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SLAVERY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 


A  DISSERTATION 


SUBMITTED    TO    THE    BOARD    OF    UNIVERSITY    STUDIES    OF    THE    JOHNS    HOPKINS 

UNIVERSITY    IN    CONFORMITY   WITH    THE    REQUIREMENTS    FOR    THE 

DEGREE   OF   DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY,    1910 


BY 


EDWARD  RAYMOND  TURNER 

Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Michigan 


THE  LORD  BALTIMORE  PRESS 

BALTIMORE,  MD.,  U.  8.  A. 

1911 


SLAVERY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 


A  DISSERTATION 


SUBMITTED    TO     THE    BOARD     OF    UNIVERSITY    STUDIES    OF    THE    JOHNS     HOPKINS 

UNIVERSITY    IN    CONFORMITY   WITH    THE    REQUIREMENTS    FOR    THE 

DEGREE   OF   DOCTOR    OF    PHILOSOPHY,    1910 


BY 


EDWARD  RAYMOND  TURNER 

Professor  of  History  in  the  University  of  Michigan 


THE  LORD  BALTIMORE  PRESS 

BALTIMORE,  MD.,  U.  S.  A. 

1911 


E- 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  INTO  PENNSYLVANIA. 

THERE  were  negroes  in  the  region  around  the  Dela 
ware  river  before  Pennsylvania  was  founded,  in  the 
days  of  the  Dutch  and  the  Swedes.  As  early  as  1639 
mention  is  made  of  a  convict  sentenced  to  be  taken  to 
South  River  to  serve  among  the  blacks  there.1  In  1644 
Anthony,  a  negro,  is  spoken  of  in  the  service  of  Gov 
ernor  Printz  at  Tinicum,  making  hay  for  the  cattle,  and 
accompanying  the  governor  on  his  pleasure  yacht.3  In 
1657  Vice-director  Alricks  was  accused  of  using  the 
Company's  oxen  and  negroes.  Five  years  later  Vice- 
director  Beekman  desired  Governor  Stuyvesant  to  send 
him  a  company  of  blacks.  In  1664  negroes  were  wanted 
to  work  on  the  lowlands  along  the  Delaware.  A  con 
tract  was  to  be  made  for  fifty,  which  the  West  India 
Company  would  furnish.8  In  the  same  year,  when  the 

1  Breviate.     Dutch  Records,  no.  2,  fol.  5.     In  2  Pennsylvania  Archives, 
XVI,  234.     Cf.  Hazard,  Annals  of  Pennsylvania,  49.     The  "  Proposed 
Freedoms  and  Exemptions  for  New  Netherland,"  1640,  say,  "  The  Com 
pany  shall  exert  itself  to  provide  the  Patroons  and  Colonists,  on  their 
order  with  as  many  Blacks  as  possible  "...  2  Pa.  Arch.,  V,  74. 

2  C.  T.  Odhner.  "The  Founding  of  New  Sweden,   1637-1642",  trans 
lated  by  G.  B.  Keen  in  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography, 
III,  277. 

8  Hazard,  Annals  of  Pennsylvania,  331;  O'Callaghan,  Documents  rela 
tive  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,  II,  213,  214.  The 
Report  of  the  Board  of  Accounts  on  New  Netherland,  Dec.  15,  1644,  had 
spoken  of  the  need  of  negroes,  the  economy  of  their  labor,  and  had  rec 
ommended  the  importation  of  large  numbers.  2  Pa.  Arch.,  V,  88.  See 
also  Davis,  History  of  Bucks  County,  793. 


251827 


2  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

English  captured  New  Amstel,  afterward  New  Castle, 
the  place  was  plundered,  and  a  number  of  negroes  were 
confiscated  and  sold.  From  Peter  Alricks  several  were 
taken ;  of  these  eleven  were  restored  to  him.4  At  least  a 
few  were  living  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  River  in 
1 677."  A  year  later  an  emissary  was  sent  by  the  jus 
tices  of  New  Castle  to  request  most  urgently  permission 
to  import  negroes  from  Maryland.8 

Thus  negroes  had  been  brought  into  the  country  be 
fore  Pennsylvania  was  founded.  Immediately  after 
Penn's  coming  there  is  record  of  them  in  his  first 
counties.  They  were  certainly  present  in  Philadelphia 
County  in  1684,  and  in  Chester  in  1687.'  Penn  himself 
noticed  them  in  his  charter  to  the  Free  Society  of 
Traders.  In  1702  they  were  spoken  of  as  numerous." 
By  that  time  merchants  of  Philadelphia  made  the  im- 

*  2  Pa.  Arch.,  XVI,  255,  256;  Hazard,  Annals  of  Pennsylvania,  372.  Sir 
Robert  Carr,  writing  to  Colonel  Nicholls,  Oct.  13,  1664,  says,  "  I  have 
already  sent  into  Merryland  some  Neegars  wch  did  belong  to  the  late 
Governor  att  his  plantation  above  "...  2  Pa.  Arch.,  V,  578. 

5  The  Records  of  the  Court  of  New  Castle  give  a  list  of  the  "  Names  of 
the  Tijdable  prsons  Living  in  this  Courts  Jurisdiction  "  in  which  occur 
"  three  negros":  "  i  negro  woman  of  Mr.  Moll  ",  "  i  neger  of  Mr.  Al- 
richs  ",  "  Sam  Hedge  and  neger  ".  Book  A,  197-201.    Quoted  in  Pa.  Mag., 
Ill,  352-354.     For  the  active  trade  in  negroes  at  this  time  cf.  MS.  Board 
of  Trade  Journals,   II,    307. 

6  "  Wth  out  wch  wee  cannot  subsist  "...   MS.   New   Castle   Court 
Records,  Liber  A,  406.     Hazard,  Annals,  456. 

7  "  Ik  hebbe  geen  vaste  Dienstbode,  als  een  Neger  die  ik  gekocht  heb." 
Missive  van  Cornells  Bom,  Geschreven  uit  de  Stadt  Philadelphia,  etc.,  3. 
(Oct.  12,  1684).    "  Man  hat  hier  auch  Zwartzen  oder  Mohren  zu  Schlaven 
in  der  Arbeit."     Letter,  probably  of  Hermans  Op  den  Graeff,  German- 
town,    Feb.    12,   1684,   in   Sachse,  Letters  relating  to  the  Settlement   of 
Germantown,  25.  Cf.  also  MS.  in  American  Philosophical  Society's  col 
lection,  quoted  in  Pa.  Mag.,  VII,   106:  "  Lacey  Cocke  hath  A  negroe  " 
.  .  .  ,  "  Pattrick  Robbinson-Robert  neverbeegood  his  negor  sarvant "... 
"  The  Defendts  negros  "  are  mentioned  in  a  suit  for  damages  in  1687. 
See  MS.  Court  Records  of  Penna.  and  Chester  Co.,  1681-1688,  p.  72. 

8  MS.   Ancient  Records  of  Philadelphia,  28  7th  mo.,   1702. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  3 

portation  of  negroes  a  regular  part  of  their  business.' 
Thenceforth  they  are  a  noticeable  factor  in  the  life  of 
the  colony. 

While  there  was  an  active  demand  for  negroes,  there 
was,  nevertheless,  almost  from  the  first,  strong  opposi 
tion  to  importing  them.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  during  the  colonial  period  the  Assembly  of  Pennsyl 
vania  passed  a  long  series  of  acts  imposing  restrictions 
upon  the  traffic.  In  1700  a  maximum  duty  of  twenty 
shillings  was  imposed  on  each  negro  imported.  Five  years 
later  this  duty  was  doubled.10  By  that  time  there  had 
arisen  a  strong  adverse  sentiment,  due  partly  to  economic 
causes,  since  the  white  workmen  complained  that  their 
wages  were  lowered  by  negro  competition,  and  partly 
to  fear  aroused  by  an  insurrection  of  slaves  in  New 
York."  Accordingly  in  1712  the  Assembly  very  boldly 
passed  an  act  to  prevent  importation,  seeking  to  accom 
plish  this  purpose  by  making  the  duty  twenty  pounds 
a  head.  The  law  was  immediately  repealed  in  England, 
the  Crown  not  being  disposed  to  tolerate  such  independ 
ent  action,  nor  willing  to  allow  interference  with  the 
African  Company's  trade.12  Either  the  local  feeling  was 
too  strong,  or  the  requirements  were  less,  since  in  spite 
of  this  failure  there  was  for  a  while  a  falling  off  in  the 

8  MS.  William  Trent's  Ledger,  156.  For  numerous  references  to  ne 
groes  brought  from  Barbadoes,  see  MS.  Booke  of  acctts  Relating  to  the 
Barquentine  Constant  Ailse  Andw:  Dykes  mastr:  from  Marfth  2jth  1700 
(—  1702).  (Pa.  State  Lib.) 

10  Statutes  at  Large  of  Pennsylvania   (edited   by   J.   T.   Mitchell   and 
Henry  Flanders),  II,  107.  Ibid.,  II,  285.     The  act  of  1705-1706  was  re 
peated  in  1710-1711.  Ibid.,  II,  383.  Cf.  Colonial  Records  of  Pennsylvania, 
II.  529,  530. 

11  Votes  and  Proceedings  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Prov 
ince  of  Pennsylvania,  I,  pt.  II,  132.  Stat.  at  L.,  II,  433. 

13  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Papers,  Proprieties,  IX,  Q,  39,  42.  Stat.  at  L., 
II,  543,  544- 


4  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

number  imported.13  A  more  moderate  duty  of  five 
pounds  was  imposed  in  1715,  but  again  the  English 
authorities  interposed,  repealing  it  in  1719.  Meanwhile 
an  act  to  continue  this  duty  had  been  passed  in  1717- 
1718,  but  apparently  it  was  not  submitted  to  the  Crown. 
In  1720-1721  the  five  pound  duty  was  again  imposed, 
this  act  also  not  being  submitted.  In  1722  the  duty  was 
repeated,  and  once  more  the  law  expired  by  limitation 
before  it  was  sent  up  for  approval." 

Up  to  this  time  restrictive  legislation  had  been  largely 
frustrated.  It  had  encountered  not  only  the  disapproval 
of  certain  classes  in  Pennsylvania,  but  the  powerful 
opposition  of  the  African  Company,  which  could  count 
on  the  decisive  interposition  of  the  Lords  of  Trade.18 
The  Assembly  accordingly  submitted  the  acts  long  after 
they  had  been  passed,  and  made  new  laws  before  the 
old  ones  had  been  disallowed.16  Nevertheless  the  number 

13  Jonathan  Dickinson,  a  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  writing  to  a  cor 
respondent  in  Jamaica,  4th  month,  1715,  says,  "  I  must  entreat  you  to 
send  me  no  more  negroes  for  sale,  for  our  people  don't  care  to  buy.  They 
are  generally  against  any  coming  into  the  country."  I  have  been  unable 
to  find  this  letter.  Watson,  who  quotes  it  (Annals  of  Philadelphia,  II, 
264),  says,  "  Vide  the  Logan  MSS."  Cf.  also  a  letter  of  George  Tiller 
of  Kingston,  Jamaica,  to  Dickinson,  1712.  MS.  Logan  Papers,  VIII,  47. 

uStat.  at  L.,  Ill,  117,  118;  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Papers,  Prop.,  X,  2, 
Q,  159;  Stat.  at  L.,  Ill,  465;  Col.  Rec.,  Ill,  38,  144,  171-  During  this 
period  negroes  were  being  imported  through  the  custom-house  at  the 
rate  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  a  year.  Cf.  Votes  and  Proceedings, 
II,  251. 

15  In  1727  the  iron-masters  of  Pennsylvania  petitioned  for  the  entire 
removal  of  the  duty,  labor  being  so  scarce.  Votes  and  Proceedings,  1726- 
1742,  p.  31.  The  attitude  of  the  English  authorities  is  explained  in  a 
report  of  Richard  Jackson,  March  2,  1774.  on  one  of  the  Pennsylvania 
impost  acts.  "  The  Increase  of  Duty  on  Negroes  in  this  Law  is  Mani 
festly  inconsistent  with  the  Policy  adopted  by  your  Lordships  and  your 
Predecessors  for  the  sake  of  encouraging  the  African  Trade  "...  Board 
of  Trade  Papers,  Prop.,  XXIII,  Z,  54- 

18  Votes  and  Proceedings,  II,  152;  Col.  Rec.,  II,  572,  573  J  i  Pa-  Arch., 
I,  160-162;  Votes  and  Proceedings,  1766,  pp.  45,  46.  For  a  complaint 
against  this  practice  cf.  "  Copy  of  a  Representat*  of  the  Board  of  Trade 
upon  some  Pennsylvania  Laws  "  (1713-1714).  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Papers, 
Plantations  General,  IX,  K,  35. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  5 

of  blacks  in  the  colony  had  steadily  increased,  and  in 
1721  was  estimated  to  be  somewhere  between  twenty- 
five  hundred  and  five  thousand."  The  wrath  of  the 
white  laborers  was  correspondingly  increased,  and  in 
this  year  they  presented  to  the  Assembly  a  petition 
asking  for  a  law  to  prevent  the  hiring  of  blacks.  The 
Assembly  resolved  that  such  a  law  would  be  injurious 
to  the  public  and  unjust  to  those  who  owned  negroes 
and  hired  them  out,  but  the  restrictions  on  importing 
them  were  maintained.18  In  1725-1726  the  five  pound 
duty  was  imposed  again,  and  in  the  same  year  five 
pounds  extra  was  placed  upon  every  convict  negro 
brought  into  the  colony.  This  became  law  by  lapse  of 
time.19 

In  1729  the  duty  was  reduced  to  two  pounds.  This 
duty  continued  in  force  for  a  generation,  satisfactory 
partly  because  the  opposition  to  importing  negroes 
seems  to  have  been  less  strong,  partly  because  white 
servants  proved  to  be  cheaper  and  more  adapted  to  in 
dustrial  demands.20  The  newspaper  advertisements  an 
nounce  the  arrival  of  many  more  cargoes  of  servants 
than  of  negroes ;  this  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  white 
servants  frequently  ran  away,  often  to  enlist  in  the  wars. 
Referring  to  this  fact  a  message  from  the  Assembly  to 
the  governor  says  that  while  the  King  has  seemed  to  de 
sire  the  importation  of  servants  rather  than  of  negroes, 

17  O'Callaghan,  N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.,  V,  604. 

18  Votes  and  Proceedings,   II,   347. 

19  Stat.  at  L.f  IV,  52-56,  60;  Col.  Rec.,  Ill,  247,  248,  250. 

20  Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  123-128;  Col.  Rec.,  Ill,  359;  Smith,  History  of  Dela 
ware  County,  261.    For  a  while,  no  doubt,  there  was  a  considerable  influx. 
Ralph   Sandiford   says    (1730),   "  We  have   negroes  flocking  in   upon  us 
since  the  duty  on  them  is  reduced  to  40  shillings  per  head."     Mystery  of 
Iniquity,    (2d    ed.),    5.      Many    of   these   were   smuggled   in    from    New 
Jersey,  where  there  was  no  duty  from  1721  to  1767.     Cooley,  A  Study  of 
Slavery  in  New  Jersey,  15,  16. 


6  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

yet  the  enlistment  acts  make  such  property  so  pre 
carious,  that  it  seems  to  depend  on  the  will  of  the  servant 
and  the  pleasure  of  the  officer.21  Nevertheless  the  num 
ber  of  negroes  brought  in  steadily  dwindled.  By  1750 
importation  had  nearly  ceased.22 

A  few  years  later  the  great  efforts  made  in  the  last 
French  and  Indian  War  caused  loud  complaints  again 
about  enlisting  servants.  It  was  feared  that  people 
would  be  driven  to  the  necessity  of  providing  themselves 
with  negro  slaves,  as  property  in  them  seemed  more 
secure.  This  is  probably  just  what  occurred,  for  the 
increase  of  negroes  is  said  to  have  been  alarming.23  As 
a  result  restrictive  legislation  was  tried  again  in  1761, 
when  the  duty  was  made  ten  pounds.  The  law  was 
carried  only  after  considerable  effort.  While  the  bill 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  governor  a  petition  was  sent  to 
him,  signed  by  twenty-four  merchants  of  Philadelphia, 
who  set  forth  the  scarcity  and  high  price  of  labor,  and 
their  need  of  slaves.  After  two  months'  contest  the  bill 
was  passed.  One  provision  of  the  act  was  that  a  new 
settler  need  not  pay  the  duty  if  he  did  not  sell  his  slave 
within  eighteen  months.24  In  1768  this  act  was  renewed. 

21  Cargoes  of  servants  are  advertised  in  the  American  Weekly  Mercury, 
the  Pennsylvania  Packet,  and  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  passim.     As  to 
enlistment  of  servants  cf.  Mercury,  Gazette,  Aug.  7,  1740;  Col.  Rec.,  IV, 
437.     Complaint  about  this  had  been  made  as  early  as  1711.     Votes  and 
Proceedings,   II,    101,   103. 

22  Smith,  History  of  Delaware  County,  261;  Peter  Kalm,  Travels  into 
North  America,  etc.,   (1748),  I,  391. 

23  Col.  Rec.,  VII,  37,  38. 

24  Stat.  at  L.,  VI,  104-110;  Votes  and  Proceedings,  1761,  pp.  25,  29,  33, 
38,  39,  40,  41,  52,  55,  63;  Col.  Rec.,  VIII,  575,  576.     "The  Petition  of 
Divers  Merchants   of  the   City  of   Philadelphia,  To  The  Honble   James 
Hamilton  Esqr.  Lieut.  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  Hum 
bly  Sheweth,  That  We  the  Subscribers  .  .  .  have  seen  for  some  time  past, 
the  many  inconveniencys  the  Inhabitants  have  suffer'd,  for  want  of  La 
bourers,   and   Artificers,   by   Numbers   being   Inlisted   for   His   Majestys 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  f 

In  1773  it  was  made  perpetual,  the  former  law  having 
been  found  to  be  of  great  public  utility ;  but  the  duty  was 
raised  to  twenty  pounds.  Once  more  the  act  became  law 
by  lapse  of  time.25 

The  act  of  1773  was  the  last  one  which  the  Assembly 
passed  to  limit  the  importation  of  negroes.  Not  only 
was  the  duty  sufficiently  high,  now,  but  its  presence  was 
hardly  needed.26  A  silent  but  powerful  movement  was 
overthrowing  slavery  in  Pennsylvania;  and  in  a  short 
time  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War  brought 
the  traffic  to  an  end.  Shortly  thereafter,  in  1780,  the 
state  did  what  England  had  never  permitted  while  she 
held  authority:  forbade  the  importation  of  slaves  en 
tirely.27 

The  real  reason  for  the  passage  of  these  laws  is  not 
always  clear.  They  may  have  been  passed  either  to  keep 
negroes  out,28  or  to  raise  revenue  for  the  govern- 

Service  and  near  a  total  stop  to  the  importation  of  German  and  other 
white  Servants,  have  for  some  time  encouraged  the  importation  of 
Negros,  .  .  .  that  an  advantage  may  be  gain'd  by  the  Introduction  of 
Slaves,  wch  will  likewise  be  a  means  of  reduceing  the  exorbitant  Price  of 
Labour,  and  in  all  Probability  bring  our  staple  Commoditys  to  their  usual 
Prices."  MS.  Provincial  Papers,  XXV,  March  i,  1761. 

25  Stat.  at  L.,  VII,   158,  159;  VIII,  330-332;  Col.  Rec.,  IX,  400,  401, 
443,  ff.;  X,  72,  77.     The  Board  of  Trade  Journals,  LXXXII,  47,   (May 
5,   1774),  say  that  their  lordships  had  some  discourse  with  Dr.  Franklin 
"  upon  the  objections  ...  to  ...  imposing  Duties  amounting  to  a  pro 
hibition  upon  the  Importation  of  Negroes." 

26  Cf.  MS.  Provincial  Papers,  XXXII,  January,   1775. 

27  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  72,  73.     It  was  forbidden  by  implication  rather  than 
specific  regulation.     It  had  been  foreseen  that  an  act  for  gradual  abolition 
entailed  stopping  the  importation  of  negroes.    Pa.  Packet,  Nov.  28,  1778; 
i   Pa.  Arch.,  VII,  79- 

28  Professor  E.  P.  Cheyney  in  an  article  written  some  years  ago  ("  The 
Condition  of  Labor  in  Early  Pennsylvania,  I.  Slavery,"  in  The  Manufac- 
urer,  Feb.  2,  1891,  p.  8)  considers  these  laws  to  have  been  restrictive  in 
purpose,  and  gives  three  causes  for  their  passage,  in  the  following  order 
of  importance:    (a)   dread  of  slave  insurrections,   (b)   opposition  of  the 
free  laboring  classes  to  slave  competition,  (c)  conscientious  objections.    I 


8  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

ment.28  An  analysis  of  the  laws  themselves  seems  to 
show  that  both  of  these  purposes  were  constantly  in 
mind.30  When,  however,  they  are  taken  in  connection 
with  matters  which  they  themselves  do  not  mention, 
namely,  the  predominance  of  the  Quakers  in  the  colonial 
Assembly  together  with  the  abhorrence  which  they  felt 
for  the  slave-trade  and  later  for  slavery  itself,31  it  be- 

cannot  think  that  this  is  correct,  (a)  seems  to  have  been  the  impelling 
motive  only  in  connection  with  the  law  of  1712,  and  seems  rarely  to  have 
been  thought  of.  It  was  urged  in  1740,  1741,  and  1742,  when  efforts  were 
being  made  to  pass  a  militia  law  in  Pennsylvania,  but  it  attracted  little 
attention.  Cf.  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Papers,  Prop.,  XV,  T:  54,  57,  60. 

28  In  a  MS.  entitled  "  William  Penn's  Memorial  to  the  Lords  of  Trade 
relating  to  several  laws  passed  in  Pensilvania,"  assigned  to  the  year  1690 
in  the  collection  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  but  probably 
belonging  to  a  later  period,  is  the  following:  "  These  .  .  .  Acts  ...  to  Raise 
money  ...  to  defray  publick  Exigences  in  such  manner  as  after  a  Mature 
deliberacon  they  thought  would  not  be  burthensom  particularly  in  the  Act 
for  laying  a  Duty  on  Negroes  "...  MS.  Pa.  Miscellaneous  Papers,  1653- 
1724,  p.  24. 

80  1700.     20  shillings  for  negroes  over  sixteen  years  of  age,  6  for  those 
under  sixteen.    No  cause  given.    Apparently  (terms  of  the  act)  revenue. — 
1705-1706.     40   shillings — a   draw-back  of  one   half  if  the  negro  be   re- 
exported  within  six  months.     Apparently  revenue. — 1710.    40  shillings — 
excepting  those  imported  by  immigrants  for  their  own  use,  and  not  sold 
within  a  year.     Almost  certainly  (preamble)  re-venue. — 1712.    20  pounds. 
The  causes  were  a  dread  of  insurrection  because  of  the  negro  uprising 
in    New   York,    and  the   Indians'    dislike   of    the    importation   of   Indian 
slaves.     Purpose  undoubtedly  restriction. — 1715.    5  pounds.     Apparently 
(character    of    the    provisions)    restriction    and    revenue. — 1717-1718.    5 
pounds.     To   continue   the   preceding.     Restriction   and  revenue. — 1720- 
1721.   5  pounds.     To  continue  the  preceding.     Revenue   (preamble)  and 
restriction. — 1722.    5   pounds.     To   continue  provisions   of  previous  acts. 
Revenue  and  restriction. — 1725-1726.     5  pounds.     Revenue  and  restric 
tion. — 1729.  2  pounds.     Reduction  made  probably  because  since  1712  none 
of  the  laws  had  been  allowed  to  stand  for  any  length  of  time,  and  because 
there   had   been   much   smuggling.     Revenue   and   restriction. — 1761.    10 
pounds.     No  cause  given  for  the  increase.     Restriction  and  revenue. — 
1768.     Preceding  continued — "  of  public  utility."     Restriction  and  reve 
nue. — 1773.      Preceding   made    perpetual — "of    great    public    utility" — 
but  duty  raised  to  20  pounds.     Restriction.  Cf.  Stat.  at  L.,  II,  107,  285, 
383,  433J  HI,  "7,  159,  238,  275;  IV,  52,  123;  VI,  104;  VII,  158;  VIII, 
330. 

81  See  below,  chapters  IV  and  V. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  g 

comes  probable  that  the  predominant  motive  was  restric 
tion.82  It  is  also  probable  that  while  the  obtaining  of 
revenue  was  the  obvious  motive  in  many  of  these  acts, 
yet  revenue  was  so  raised  precisely  because  Pennsylva 
nia  desired  to  keep  negroes  out;  that  imported  slaves 
were  taxed  largely  for  reasons  similar  to  those  which 
caused  the  Stuarts  to  tax  colonial  tobacco,  and  which 
lead  modern  governments  to  tax  spirituous  liquors  and 
opium.  It  may  be  added  that  Pennsylvania  always  held, 
both  in  colonial  times  and  afterwards,  that  England 
forced  slavery  upon  her.  That  there  was  much  justice 
in  this  complaint  the  failure  of  the  earlier  legislation 
goes  far  to  sustain.88 

The  negroes  imported  were  brought  sometimes  in 
cargoes,  more  often  a  few  at  a  time.  They  came  mostly 
from  the  West  Indies,  many  being  purchased  in  Barba- 
does,  Jamaica,  Antigua,  and  St.  Christophers.84  As  a 

32  "  Man  hat  besonders  in  Pensylvanien  den  Grundsatz  angenoramen  ihre 
Einfiihrung  so  viel  moglich  abzuhalten"  .  .  .  Achenivall's  in  Gottingen  iiber 
Nordamerika  und  iiber  dasige  Grosbritannische  Colonien  aus  mundlichen 
Nachrichten  des  Herrn  Dr.  Franklins  .  .  .  Anmerkungen,  24,  25.  (About 
1760). 

^Stat.  at  L.,  X,  67,  68;  i  Pa.  Arch.,  I,  306.  Cf.  Mr.  Woodward's 
speech,  Jan.  19,  1838,  Proceedings  and  Debates  of  the  Convention  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  to  Propose  Amendments  to  the  Consti 
tution,  etc.,  X,  1 6,  17. 

84  "  Aus  Pennsylvanien  .  .  .  fahren  gen  Barbadoes,  Jamaica  und  Antego. 
Von  dar  bringen  sie  zuriick  .  .  .  Negros."  Daniel  Falkner,  Curieuse  Nach- 
richt  von  Pennsylvania  in  Norden- America,  etc.,  (1702),  192.  For  a  ne 
gro  woman  from  Jamaica  (1715),  see  MS.  Court  Papers,  Philadelphia 
County,  1619-1732.  Also  numerous  advertisements  in  the  newspapers. 
Mercury,  Apr.  17,  1729,  (Barbadoes);  July  31,  1729,  (Bermuda);  July 
23.  1730,  (St.  Christophers);  Jan.  21,  1739,  (Antigua).  Oldmixon,  speak 
ing  of  Pennsylvania,  says,  "  Negroes  sell  here  .  .  .  very  well;  but  not  by  the 
Ship  Loadings,  as  they  have  sometimes  done  at  Maryland  and  Virginia." 
(1741.)  British  Empire  in  America,  etc.,  (2d  ed.),  I,  316.  Cf.  however  the 
following:  "A  PARCEL  of  likely  Negro  Boys  and  Girls  just  arrived  in 
the  Sloop  Charming  Sally  ...  to  be  sold  ...  for  ready  Money,  Flour  or 
Wheat  "...  Advt.  in  Pa.  Gazette,  Sept.  4,  1740.  For  a  consignment  of 
seventy  see  MS.  Provincial  Papers,  XXVII,  Apr.  26,  1766. 


io  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

rule  they  were  imported  by  the  merchants  of  Philadel 
phia,  and,  being  received  in  exchange  for  grain,  flour, 
lumber,  and  staves,  helped  to  make  up  the  balance  of 
trade  between  Philadelphia  and  the  islands.85  A  few 
seem  to  have  been  obtained  directly  from  Africa.  When 
so  brought,  however,  they  were  found  to  be  unable  to 
endure  the  winter  cold  in  Pennsylvania,  so  that  it  was 
considered  preferable  to  buy  the  second  generation  in 
the  West  Indies,  after  they  had  become  acclimated.38 
Some  were  brought  from  other  colonies  on  the  main 
land,  particularly  those  to  the  south.  At  times  Penn 
sylvania  herself  exported  a  few  to  other  places.31  The 
prices  paid  in  the  colony  naturally  fluctuated  from  time 
to  time  in  accordance  with  supply  and  demand,  and 
varied  within  certain  limits  according  to  the  age  and 
personal  qualities  of  each  negro.  The  usual  price  for 
an  adult  seems  to  have  been  somewhere  near  forty 
pounds.38 

35  Cf.  MS.  William  Trent's  Ledger,  "Negroes"  (1703-1708).  Isaac 
Norris,  Letter  Book,  75,  76  (1732).  For  a  statement  of  profit  and  loss 
on  two  imported  negroes,  see  ibid.,  77.  In  this  case  Isaac  Norris  acted  as 
a  broker,  charging  five  per  cent.  For  the  wheat  and  flour  trade  with 
Barbadoes,  see  A  Letter  from  Doctor  More  .  .  .  Relating  to  the  .  .  . 
Province  of  Pennsylvania,  5.  (1686). 

38  Some  were  probably  brought  from  Africa  by  pirates.  Cf.  MS.  Board 
of  Trade  Papers,  Prop.,  Ill,  285,  286;  IV,  369;  V,  408.  The  hazard 
involved  in  the  purchase  of  negroes  is  revealed  in  the  following:  "  Acco* 
of  Negroes  Dr  to  Tho.  Willen  £17:  io  for  a  New  Negro  Man  ...  £15  and 
50  Sh.  more  if  he  live  to  the  Spring  "...  MS.  James  Logan's  Account 
Book,  91,  (1714).  As  to  the  effect  of  cold  weather  upon  negroes,  Isaac 
Norris,  writing  to  Jonathan  Dickinson  in  1703,  says,  .  .  .  "they're  So 
Chilly  they  Can  hardly  Stir  fro  the  fire  and  Wee  have  Early  beginning 
for  a  hard  Wintr."  MS.  Letter  Book,  1702-1704,  p.  109.  In  1748  Kalm 
says,  ..."  the  toes  and  fingers  of  the  former  "  (negroes)  "  are  frequently 
frozen."  Travels,  I,  392. 

37  Mercury,  Sept.  26,  1723.  MS.  Penn  Papers,  Accounts  (unbound), 
27  3d  mo.,  1741.  Also  Calendar  of  State  Papery  America  and  West 
Indies,  1697-1698,  p.  390;  Col.  Rec.,  IV,  515;  Pa.  Mag.,  XXVII,  320. 

88  A  Report  of  the  Royal  African  Company,  Nov.  2,  1680,  purports  to 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  n 

As  to  the  number  of  negroes  in  Pennsylvania  at  dif 
ferent  times  during  the  colonial  period  almost  any  esti 
mate  is  at  best  conjecture.  Not  only  are  there  few 
official  reports,  but  these  reports,  in  the  absence  of  any 
definite  census,  are  of  little  value.89  Apparently  one  of 
the  best  estimates  was  that  made  in  1721,  which  stated 
the  number  of  blacks  at  anywhere  between  2,500  and 
5,000.*°  In  1751  it  was  at  least  widely  believed  that 

show  the  first  cost:  "  That  the  Negros  cost  them  the  first  price  5li:  and 
4li:  153.  the  freight,  besides  25!!  p  cent  which  they  lose  by  the  usual 
mortality  of  the  Negros."  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Journals,  III,  229.  The 
selling  price  had  been  considered  immoderate  four  years  previous.  Ibid., 
I,  236.  In  1723  Peter  Baynton  sold  "  a  negroe  man  named  Jemy  ...  30 
£."  Loose  sheet  in  Peter  Baynton's  Ledger.  In  1729  a  negro  twenty-five 
years  old  brought  35  pounds  in  Chester  County.  MS.  Chester  County 
Papers,  89.  The  Moravians  of  Bethlehem  purchased  a  negress  in  1748  for 
70  pounds.  Pa.  Mag.,  XXII,  503.  Peter  Kalm  (1748)  says  that  a  full 
grown  negro  cost  from  40  pounds  to  100  pounds;  a  child  of  two  or  three 
years,  8  pounds  to  14  pounds.  Travels,  I,  393,  394.  Mittelberger  (1750) 
says  200  to  350  florins  (33  to  58  pounds).  Journey  to  Pennsylvania  in  the 
Year  1750,  etc.,  106.  Franklin  (1751)  in  a  very  careful  estimate  thought 
that  the  price  would  average  about  30  pounds.  Works  (ed.  Sparks),  II, 
314.  Acrelius  (about  1759)  says  30  to  40  pounds.  Description  of  .  .  .  New 
Sweden,  etc.  (translation  of  W.  M.  Reynolds,  1874,  in  Memoirs  of  the 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  XI),  p.  168.  A  negro  iron-worker 
brought  50  pounds  at  Bethlehem  in  1760.  Pa.  Mag.,  XXII,  503.  In 
1790  Edward  Shippen  writes  of  a  slave  who  cost  him  100  pounds.  Ibid., 
VII,  31.  It  is  probable  that  the  value  of  a  slave  was  roughly  about  three 
times  that  of  a  white  servant.  Cf.  Votes  and  Proceedings  (1764),  V,  308. 

88  In  1708  the  Board  of  Trade  requested  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania 
that  very  definite  information  on  a  variety  of  subjects  relating  to  the 
negro  be  transmitted  thereafter  half  yearly.  Were  these  records  available 
they  would  be  worth  more  than  all  the  remaining  information.  Cf.  MS. 
Provincial  Papers,  I,  April  15,  1708;  i  Pa.  Arch.,  I,  152,  153. 

40  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  V,  604.  As  to  the  necessity  for  allowing  so  large 
a  margin  in  these  figures  cf.  the  following.  "  The  number  of  the  whites 
are  said  to  be  Sixty  Thousand,  and  of  the  Black  about  five  Thousand." 
Col.  Hart's  Answer,  etc.,  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Papers,  Prop.,  XI,  R:  7. 
(1720).  "  The  number  of  People  in  this  Province  may  be  computed  to 
above  40,000  Souls  amongst  whom  we  have  scarce  any  Blacks  except  a 
few  Household  Servants  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia  "...  Letter  of  Sir 
William  Keith,  ibid.,  XI,  R:  42.  (1722).  Another  communication  gave 
the  true  state  of  the  case,  if  not  the  exact  numbers.  "  This  Government 
has  not  hitherto  had  Occasion  to  use  any  methods  that  can  furnish  us 


12  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

there  were  in  Philadelphia  6,000,  and  it  is  asserted  that 
the  total  number  in  Pennsylvania  including  the  Lower 
Counties  was  i  i,ooo.41  It  is  probable  that  the  same  num 
ber  was  not  much  exceeded  in  Pennsylvania  proper  at 
any  time  before  1790.  In  these  estimates  no  attempt  was 
made  to  distinguish  the  free  from  the  slaves.  The  num 
ber  of  slaves,  it  is  true,  was  very  near  the  total  at  both 
these  periods,  but  after  the  middle  of  the  century  it  be 
gan  dwindling  as  the  number  of  negro  servants  and  free 
men  increased.  In  1780  a  careful  estimate  placed  the 
slaves  at  6,ooo.42  According  to  the  Federal  census  of 
1790  the  number  of  negroes  in  Pennsylvania  was 
io,274.43 

Of  these  negroes  the  great  majority  throughout  the 
slavery  period  were  located  in  the  southeastern  part  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  and  around  Philadelphia.  There  were 
many  in  Bucks,  Chester,  Lancaster,  Montgomery,  and 
York  counties.  There  were  negroes  near  the  site  of 

with  an  exact  Estimate,  but  as  near  as  can  at  present  be  guessed  there 
may  be  about  Forty  -five  thousand  Souls  of  Whites  and  four  thousand 
Blacks."  Major  Gordon's  answer  to  Queries,  ibid.,  XIII,  S:  34.  (1730- 


41  William  Douglass,  A  Summary,  Historical  and  Political,  .  .  .  of  the 
British   Settlements  in  North-  America,   etc.    (ed.    1755),    II,   324;   Abiel 
Holmes,  American  Annals,  etc.,  II,  187;  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United 
States  (author's  last  revision),  II,  391. 

42  Letter  in  Pa,  Packet,  Jan  i,  1780.    This  made  allowance  for  the  num 
erous  runaways  during  the  British  occupation  of  Philadelphia.    Also  ibid., 
Dec.  25,  1779;  i  Pa.  Arch.,  XI,  74,  75.     For  a  higher  estimate,  10,000,  for 
1780  but  made  in   1795,  see  MS.  Collection  of  the  Records  of  the  Pa. 
Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  etc.,  IV,  in. 

43  Slaves,  3,737;  free,  6,537.     Other  enumerations  occur,  but  are  evi 
dently    without    value.       Oldmixon     (1741),    3,600.     British    Empire    in 
America,  I,  321.     Burke  (1758),  about  6,000.     An  Account  of  the  Euro 
pean  Settlements  in  America,  II,  204.  Abbe  Raynal   (1766),  30,000.     A 
Philosophical  and  Political  History  of  the  British  Settlements  ...  in  North 
America  (tr.   1776),  I,  163.     A  communication  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth 
(1773),  2,000.     MS.  Provincial  Papers,  Jan.  1775;  i  Pa.  Arch.,  IV,  597- 
Smyth  (1782),  over  100,000.    A  Tour  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
etc.,   II,    309. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  13 

Columbia  by  1726.  John  Harris  had  slaves  by  the  Sus- 
quehanna  as  early  as  1733.  In  1759  Hugh  Mercer 
wrote  from  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburg  asking  for  two 
negro  girls  and  a  boy.  The  tax-lists  and  local  accounts 
reveal  their  presence  in  many  other  places.44  Doubtless 
a  few  might  be  traced  wherever  white  people  settled 
permanently.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that  they  were 
owned  in  the  English,  Welsh,  and  Scotch-Irish  commu 
nities.  The  Germans  as  a  rule  held  no  slaves. 

Where  negroes  were  owned  they  were  for  the  most 
part  evenly  distributed,  there  being  few  large  holdings. 
In  rare  instances  a  considerable  number  is  recorded  as 
belonging  to  one  man,  and  the  iron-masters  generally 
had  several.  The  tax-lists,  however,  indicate  that  the 
average  holding  was  one  or  two,  except  in  Philadelphia 
among  the  wealthier  classes  where  it  was  double  that 
number.48 

The  character  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  was  in 
many  respects  unique,  but  in  no  way  was  this  so  true  as 
in  connection  with  the  number  of  negroes  held.  Gener 
ally  speaking,  the  farther  south  a  section  lay  the  more 

44  MS.   (Samuel  Wright),  A  Journal  of  Our  Rem(oval)  from  Chester 
and  Darby  (to)  Conestogo  .  .  .  1726,  copied  by  A.  C.  Myers;  Morgan,  An 
nals  of  Harrisburg,  9-11;  Col.  Rec.,  VIII,  305,  306.     Tax-lists  printed  in 
3  Pa.  Arch.   Also  Davis,  Hist,  of  Bucks  Co.,  793 ;  Futhey  and  Cope,  Hist, 
of  Chester  Co.,  423  425;  Ellis  and  Evans,  Hist,  of  Lancaster  Co.,  301; 
Gibson,  Hist,   of  York  Co.,  498;   Bean,  Hist,  of  Montgomery  Co.,  302; 
Lytle,  Hist,  of  Huntingdon  Co.,   182;   Blackman,  Hist,  of  Susquehanna 
Co.,  72;  Creigh,  Hist,  of  Washington  Co.,  362;  Bausman,  Hist,  of  Beaver 
Co.,  I,  152,  153;  Linn,  Annals  of  Buffalo  Valley,  66-74;  Peck,  Wyoming; 
its  History,  etc.,  240. 

45  MS.  Assessment  Books,  Chester  Co.,  1765,  p.  197;  1768,  p.  326;  1780, 
p.  95;  MS.  Assessment  Book,  Phila.  Co.,  1769.     As  early  as  1688  Henry 
Jones  of  Moyamensing  had  thirteen  negroes.     MS.  Phila.  Wills,  Book  A, 
84.    An  undated  MS.  entitled  "  A  List  of  my  Negroes  "  shows  that  Jona 
than    Dickinson    had    thirty-two.      Dickinson    Papers,    unclassified.      An 
owner  in  York  County  is  said  to  have  had  one  hundred  and  fifty.     3  Pa. 
Arch.,  XXI,  71.     This  is  probably  a  misprint. 


14  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

slaves  did  it  possess.  Thus  there  were  fewer  in  New 
England  than  in  the  middle  colonies ;  there  were  fewer 
there  than  in  the  South.  But  to  this  rule  Pennsylvania 
was  an  exception,  for  it  had  fewer  negroes  than  New 
Jersey,  and  not  half  so  many  as  New  York.48  This  was 
due  to  two  sets  of  causes :  the  first,  ethical ;  the  second, 
economic.  The  first  of  these  are  easily  understood. 
They  resulted  from  the  character  of  many  of  the  people 
who  settled  Pennsylvania,  their  dislike  for  slavery,  and 
their  refusal  to  hold  slaves.  The  second  are  not  so 
easily  traceable,  but  were  doubtless  more  powerful  in 
their  influence,  for  they  were  owing  to  the  character  of 
Pennsylvania's  industrial  growth. 

The  plantation  system,  which  is  most  favorable  to  the 
increase  of  slavery,  never  appeared  in  Pennsylvania. 
During  the  whole  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  activ 
ities  of  the  colony  developed  along  two  lines  not  favor 
able  to  negro  labor :  small  farming,  and  manufacturing 
and  commerce.47  The  small  farms  were  almost  always 
held  by  people  who  were  too  poor  to  purchase  slaves,  at 
least  for  a  long  while,  and  the  kind  of  farming  was  not 
such  as  to  make  slavery  particularly  profitable.  In  com 
merce  no  large  number  of  negroes  was  ever  employed, 
while  manufacturing  demanded  a  higher  grade  of  labor 
than  slaves  could  give.  It  is  true  that  in  some  cases 
where  there  was  an  approach  to  the  factory  system,  and 
where  the  work  was  rough  and  needed  little  skill,  slaves 
could  answer  every  purpose.  For  this  reason  at  the  old 

46  In  1790  the  numbers  were  as  follows:  New  York,  21,324  slaves,  4,654 
free,  total  25,978;   New  Jersey,   11,423   slaves,  4,402  free,  total   15,825; 
Pennsylvania,  3,737  slaves,  6,537  free,  total  10,274. 

47  On   Pennsylvania's  amazing  commercial   and  industrial   activity  see 
Anderson,  Historical  and  Chronological  Deductions  of  the  Origin  of  Com 
merce,  etc.   (1762),  III,  75-77. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  NEGROES  15 

ironworks  negroes  were  in  demand.48  As  a  rule,  how 
ever,  this  was  not  the  case.  It  was  because  of  its  indus 
trial  character  that  Pennsylvania  was  peculiarly  the 
colony  of  indentured  white  servants. 

Furthermore,  ethical  and  economic  influences  inter 
acted  with  subtle  and  powerful  force.  Barring  all  other 
considerations,  the  cost  of  a  slave  was  a  considerable 
item,  not  to  be  afforded  by  a  struggling  settler ;  hence 
slavery  never  attained  magnitude  on  the  frontier.  Be 
fore  1700  Pennsylvania  was  all  frontier;  hence  it  had 
very  few  negroes.  In  the  period  from  1700  to  about 
1750  the  country  between  the  Delaware  and  the  Susque- 
hanna  was  filled  up,  and  the  early  conditions  largely  dis 
appeared.  It  was  then  that  the  greatest  number  of 
negroes  was  introduced.  In  the  period  between  the 
middle  of  the  century  and  the  Revolution  this  older 
country  became  well  developed  and  prosperous ;  farms 
became  larger  and  better  cultivated ;  there  were  numer 
ous  respectable  manufacturers  and  wealthy  merchants. 
These  men  could  easily  afford  to  have  slaves,  and  large 
importations  might  have  been  expected ;  but  there  was 
no  great  influx  of  negroes.  Economic  conditions  were 
favorable,  but  ethical  influences  worked  strongly  against 
it.  In  this  eastern  half  of  Pennsylvania  two  racial  ele 
ments  predominated:  the  Germans  and  the  English 
Quakers.  The  Germans  had  abstained  from  slave- 
holding  from  the  first ;  *°  the  Quakers  were  now  coming 
to  abhor  it.50  The  same  play  of  causes  was  seen  again  in 
the  "  old  West."  After  1750  in  the  mountains  and  val 
leys  beyond  the  Susquehanna  the  earlier  frontier  condi- 

48  See  below,  p.  41. 

48  See  below,  chapters  IV  and  V. 

60  See  below,  ibid. 


16  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

tions  were  lived  over  again.  Here  the  settlers  were 
largely  Scotch-Irish,  and  had  no  dislike  for  slavery,  but 
as  yet  .the  conditions  of  their  life  did  not  favor  it.  When 
finally  western  Pennsylvania  passed  out  of  the  frontier 
stage,  and  its  inhabitants  could  purchase  negroes,  the 
days  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  were  nearly  over.51  For 
all  of  these  reasons  from  first  to  last  Pennsylvania's 
slave  population  remained  small. 

51  Nevertheless  slavery  took  root  in  the  western  counties,  and  lingered 
there  longer  than  anywhere  else  in  Pennsylvania. 


CHAPTER  II. 
LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE. 

THE  legal  origin  of  slavery  *  in  Pennsylvania  is  not 
easy  to  discover,  for  the  statute  of  1700,  which  seems  to 
have  recognized  slavery  there,  is,  like  similar  statutes  in 
some  of  the  other  American  colonies,  very  indirect  and 
uncertain  in  its  wording.  Before  this  time,  it  is  true, 
there  occur  instances  where  negroes  were  held  for  life, 
so  that  undoubtedly  there  was  de  facto  slavery ;  but  by 
what  authority  it  existed,  or  how  it  began,  is  not  clear. 
It  may  have  grown  up  to  meet  the  necessities  of  a  new 
country.  It  may  have  been  an  inheritance  from  earlier 
colonists.  More  probably  still,  it  developed  by  diverg 
ing  from  temporary  servitude  which,  in  the  case  of  white 
servants  at  least,  flourished  among  the  earliest  English 
settlers  in  the  region. 

It  is  probable  that  slavery  existed  among  the  Dutch  of 
New  Netherland,  and  possibly  among  the  Swedes  along 
the  Delaware.*  In  1664  their  settlements  passed  under 
English  authority.  To  regulate  them  the  so-called 
"  Duke  of  York's  Laws  "  were  promulgated.  Mean 
while  around  the  estuary  of  the  Delaware  English  col 
onists  were  settling  with  their  negroes.  In  1676,  five 

1  Throughout  this  work  the  fundamental  distinction  between  the  words 
"  slave  "  and  "  servant,"  as  used  in  the  text,  is  that  "  slave  "  denotes  a 
person  held  for  life,  "  servant "  a  person  held  for  a  term  of  years  only. 

*  Cf.  O'Callaghan,  Voyages  of  the  Slavers  St.  John  and  Arms  of  Am 
sterdam,  etc.,  100,  for  a  bill  of  sale,  1646.  Sprinchorn,  Kolonien  Nya 
Sveriges  Historia,  217. 

3  17 


i8  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

years  before  Penn  set  out  for  his  .territories,  the  Duke's 
laws  seem  to  have  been  obeyed  in  part  of  the  Delaware 
River  country.8  In  these  laws  servants  for  life  are  ex 
plicitly  mentioned.  In  them  it  is  also  ordained  that  no 
Christian  shall  be  held  in  bond  slavery  or  villenage.4 
This  latter  may  be  a  tacit  permission  to  hold  heathen 
negroes  as  slaves. 

Not  much  can  be  based  upon  the  Duke  of  York's  laws 
since  their  meaning  upon  this  latter  point  is  doubtful. 
Moreover,  when  Penn  founded  his  colony  they  were 
superseded  after  a  short  time  by  laws  enacted  in  Penn 
sylvania  assemblies.  In  the  years  following  at  first  no 
act  was  passed  recognizing  slavery,  but  that  some  slaves 
were  held  there  is  apparent.  Numerous  little  pieces  of 
evidence  may  be  accumulated  indicating  that  there  were 
negroes  who  were  not  being  held  as  servants  for  a  term 
of  years,  nor  does  anything  appear  to  indicate  that  this 
was  looked  upon  as  illegal.5  In  1685  William  Penn, 

»  MS.  Record  of  the  Court  at  Upland  in  Penn.,  Sept.  25,   1676. 

4  "  No  Christian  shall  be  kept  in  Bondslavery  villenage  or  Captivity, 
Except  Such  who  shall  be  Judged  thereunto  by  Authority,  or  such  as 
willingly  have  sould,  or  shall  sell  themselves,"  .  .  .  Laws  of  the  Province 
of  Pennsylvania  .  .  .  preceded  by  the  Duke  of  York's  Laws,  etc.,  12. 
This  is  not  to  prejudice  any  masters  "  who  have  .  .  .  Apprentices  for 
Terme  of  Years,  or  other  Servants  for  Term  of  years  or  Life."  Ibid.,  12. 
Another  clause  directs  that  "  No  Servant,  except  such  are  duly  so  for 
life,  shall  be  Assigned  over  to  other  Masters  ...  for  above  the 
Space  of  one  year,  unless  for  good  reasons  offered  ".  Ibid.,  38. 

B  There  is  an  evident  distinction  intended  in  the  following:  "  A  List  of 
the  Tydable  psons  James  Sanderling  and  slave  John  Test  and  servant." 
One  follows  the  other.  MS.  Rec.  Court  at  Upland,  Nov.  13,  1677.  In 
1686  the  price  of  a  negro,  30  pounds,  named  in  a  law-suit,  is  probably 
that  of  a  slave.  MS.  Minute  Book.  Common  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions. 
Bucks  Co.,  1684-1730,  pp.  56,  57.  A  will  made  in  1694  certainly  disposed 
of  the  within  mentioned  negroes  for  life.  "  I  do  hereby  give  .  .  .  powr  ...  to 
my  sd  Exers  . .  .  eithr  to  lett  or  hire  out  my  five  negroes  .  .  .  and  pay  my  sd 
wife  the  one  half  of  their  wages  Yearly  during  her  life  or  OthTwise  give 
her  such  Compensacon  for  her  infest  therein  as  shee  and  my  sd  Exers 
shall  agree  upon  and  my  will  is  that  the  other  half  of  their  sd  wages 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  19 

writing  to  his  steward  at  Pennsbury,  said  that  it  would 
be  better  to  have  blacks  to  work  the  place,  since  they 
might  be  held  for  life."  In  the  same  year  by  the  terms  of 
a  recorded  deed  a  negro  was  sold  to  a  new  master  "  for 
ever."7  Three  years  later  the  Friends  of  Germantown 
issued  their  celebrated  protest  against  slavery,8  while  in 
1693  George  Keith  denounced  the  practice  of  enslaving 
men  and  holding  them  in  perpetual  bondage.8  Mean 
while  no  law  was  made  authorizing  slavery  in  the  col 
ony,  and  no  court  seems  to  have  been  called  upon  to  de 
cide  whether  slavery  was  legal.  It  is  not  until  1700  that  a 
statute  was  passed  bearing  upon  the  subject.  In  that 
year  a  law  for  the  regulation  of  servants  contains  a  sec 
tion  designed  to  prevent  the  embezzlement  by  servants 
of  their  masters'  goods.  This  section  asserts  that  the 
servant  if  white  shall  atone  for  such  theft  by  additional 

shall  be  equally  Devided  between  my  aforsd  Children,  and  after  my  sd 
wife  decease  my  will  also  is  That  the  sd  negroes  Or  such  of  them  and 
their  Offsprings  as  are  then  alive  shall  in  kind  or  value  be  equally  Devided 
between  my  sd  Children  "...  Will  of  Thomas  Lloyd.  MS.  Philadelphia 
Wills,  Book  A,  267. 

8  Penn  MSS.,  Domestic  Letters,   17. 

7  "  Know  all  men  by  these  presents  That  I  Patrick  Robinson  Countie 
Clark  of  Philadelphia  for  and  in  Consideration   of  the   Sum  of  fourtie 
pounds  Current  Money  of  Pennsilvania  .  .  .  have  bargained  Sold  and  deliv 
ered  .  .  .  unto  .  .  .  Joseph  Browne  for  himselfe,  .  .  .  heirs  exers  adriTrs 
and  assigns  One  Negro  man  Named  Jack,  To  have  and  to  hold  the  Said 
Negro  man  named  Jack  unto  the  said  Joseph  Browne  for  himself  ...  for 
ever.    And  I  ...  the  said  Negro  man  unto  him  .  .  .  shall  and  will  warrant 
and  for  ever  defend  by  these  presents."    MS.  Philadelphia  Deed  Book,  E, 
i,  vol.  V,  150,  151.     This  is  similar  to  the  regular  legal  formula  afterward. 
Cf.  MS.  Ancient  Rec.  Sussex  Co.,  1681-1709,  Sept.  22,  1709. 

8  See  below,  p.  65. 

0  "  And  to  buy  Souls  and  Bodies  of  men  for  Money,  to  enslave  them 
and  their  Posterity  to  the  end  of  the  World,  we  judge  is  a  great  hinder- 
ance  to  the  spreading  of  the  Gospel  "  .  .  .  "  neither  should  we  keep  them  in 
perpetual  Bondage  and  Slavery  against  their  Consent  "...  An  Exhorta 
tion  and  Caution  To  Friends  Concerning  buying  or  keeping  of  Negroes, 
reprinted  in  Pa.  Mag.,  XIII,  266,  268. 


20  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

servitude  at  the  end  of  his  time  sufficient  to  pay  for 
double  the  value  of  the  goods ;  but  if  black  he  shall  be 
severely  whipped  in  the  most  public  place  of  the  town 
ship.10  It  is  probable  that  the  law  was  so  worded  be 
cause  it  had  come  to  be  seen  that  there  were  few  cases 
in  which  a  negro  could  give  satisfaction  by  additional 
time  at  the  end  of  his  term,  since  negroes  were  being 
held  for  life.  If  such  be  the  case,  this  law  may  be  said 
to  contain  the  formal  recognition  of  slavery  in  the 
colony. 

The  legal  development  of  this  slavery  was  rapid  and 
brief.  As  it  was  not  created  by  statutory  enactment,  so 
some  of  its  most  important  incidents  were  never  alluded 
to  in  the  laws.  The  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  unlike 
that  of  Virginia,  never  seems  to  have  thought  it  neces 
sary  to  define  the  status  of  the  slave  as  property,  the 
consequences  of  slave  baptism,  or  .the  line  of  servile 
descent."  Some  of  these  questions  had  been  settled  in 
other  colonies  before  the  founding  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
there  the  results  seem  to  have  been  accepted.  Accord 
ingly  the  steps  in  the  development  are  neither  obvious 
nor  distinct.  They  rest  not  so  much  upon  statute  as  upon 
court  decisions  interpreting  usage,  and  in  many  cases 
the  decisions  do  not  come  until  the  end  of  the  slavery 
period.  Notwithstanding  all  this  there  was  a  develop 
ment,  which  may  be  said  to  fall  into  three  periods. 
They  were,  first,  the  years  from  1682  to  1700,  when 
slavery  was  slowly  diverging  from  servitude,  which  it 
still  closely  resembled;  second,  from  1700  to  1725-1726, 
when  slavery  was  more  sharply  marked  off  from  servi- 

10  "  An  Act  for  the  better  Regulation  of  Servants  in  this  Province  and 
Territories."  Stat.  at  L.,  II,  56. 

u  Cf.  J.  C.  Ballagh,  A  History  of  Slavery  in  Virginia,  chapter  II. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  21 

tude;  and  third,  the  period  from  1725-1726  to  1780, 
when  nothing  was  added  but  some  minor  restrictions. 

During  the  earliest  years  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  dif 
fered  from  servitude  in  but  little,  save  that  servitude 
was  for  a  term  of  years  and  slavery  was  for  life.  It  may 
be  questioned  whether  at  first  all  men  recognized  even 
this  difference.  Many  of  Penn's  first  colonists  were 
men  who  embarked  upon  their  undertaking  with  high 
ideals  of  religion  and  right,  and  whose  conception  of 
what  was  right  could  not  easily  be  reconciled  with  hope 
less  bondage.12  The  strength  of  this  sentiment  is  seen 
in  the  well  known  provision  of  Penn's  charter  to  the 
Free  Society  of  Traders,  1682,  that  if  they  held  blacks 
they  should  make  them  free  at  the  end  of  fourteen  years, 
the  blacks  then  to  become  the  Company's  tenants.13  It 
is  the  motive  in  Benjamin  Furley's  proposal  to  hold 
negroes  not  longer  than  eight  years."  It  is  particularly 
evident  in  the  protest  made  at  Germantown  in  1688."  It 
is  seen  in  George  Keith's  declaration  of  principles  in 
1 693."  And  it  gave  impetus  to  the  movement  among 
the  Friends,  which,  starting  about  1696,  led  finally  to  the 
emancipation  of  all  their  negroes. 

12  Cf.  letter  of  William  Edmundson  to  Friends  in  Maryland,  Virginia, 
and  other  parts  of  America,  1675.  S.  Janney,  History  of  the  Religious 
Society  of  Friends,  from  Its  Rise  to  the  Year  1828,  III,  178. 

"  The  Articles  Settlement  and  Offices  of  the  Free  Society  of  Traders  in 
Pennsylvania,  etc.,  article  XVIII.  This  quite  closely  resembles  the  ordin 
ance  issued  by  Governor  Rising  to  the  Swedes  in  1654,  that  after  a  certain 
period  negroes  should  be  absolutely  free.  ..."  efter  6  ahr  vare  en 
slafvare  alldeles  fri."  Sprinchorn,  Kolonien  Nya  Sveriges  Historia,  271. 

14  "  Let  no  blacks  be  brought  in  directly,  and  if  any  come  out  of  Vir 
ginia,  Maryld.  [or  elsewhere  erased]  in  families  that  have  formerly  bought 
them  elsewhere  Let  them  be  declared  (as  in  the  west  jersey  constitutions) 
free  at  8  years  end."  "  B.  F.  Abridgm*.  out  of  Holland  and  Germany." 
Penn  MSS.  Ford  vs.  Penn.  etc.,  1674-1716,  p.  17. 

"  Cf.  Pa.  Mag.,  IV,  28-30. 

ulbid.,  XIII,  265-270. 


22  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

Accordingly  at  first  there  may  have  been  some  ne 
groes  who  were  held  as  servants  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  who  were  discharged  when  they  had  served  their 
time.17  There  is  no  certain  proof  that  this  was  so,18  and 
the  probabilities  are  rather  against  it,  but  the  conscien 
tious  scruples  of  some  of  the  early  settlers  make  it  at 
least  possible.  In  the  growth  of  the  colony,  however, 
this  feeling  did  not  continue  strong  enough  to  be  de 
cisive.  Economic  adjustment,  an  influx  of  men  of  dif 
ferent  standards,  and  motives  of  expediency,  perhaps  of 
necessity,  made  the  legal  recognition  of  an  inferior 
status  inevitable.  Against  this  the  upholders  of  the  idea 
that  negroes  should  be  held  only  as  servants,  for  a  term 
of  years,  waged  a  losing  fight.  It  is  true  they  did  not 
desist,  and  in  the  course  of  one  hundred  years  their 
view  won  a  complete  triumph;  but  their  success  came  in 
abolition,  and  in  overthrowing  a  system  established, 
long  after  they  had  utterly  failed  to  prevent  the  swift 
growth  and  the  statutory  recognition  of  legal  slavery 
for  life  and  in  perpetuity. 

Aside  from  this  one  fundamental  difference  the  inci 
dents  of  each  status  were  nearly  the  same.  The  negro 
held  for  life  was  subject  to  the  same  restrictions,  tried 
in  the  same  courts,  and  punished  with  the  same  punish 
ments  as  the  white  servant.  So  far  as  either  class  was 
subject  to  special  regulation  at  this  time  it  was  because 
of  the  laws  for  the  management  of  servants,  passed  in 
1683  and  1693,  which  concerned  white  servants  equally 
with  black  slaves.  These  restrictions  were  as  yet  neither 

17  Negro  servants  are  mentioned.     See  Pa.  Mag.,  VII,  106.     Cf.  below, 
p.  54.     Little  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  the  early  use  of  this  word. 

18  I  have  found  no  instance  where  a  negro  was  indisputably  a  servant 
in    the    early   period.      The    court    records    abound    in    notices    of   white 
servants. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  23 

numerous  nor  detailed,  being  largely  directed  against 
free  people  who  abetted  servants  in  wrong  doing.  Thus, 
servants  were  forbidden  to  traffic  in  their  masters' 
goods;  but  the  only  penalty  fell  on  the  receiver,  who 
had  to  make  double  restitution.  They  were  restricted 
as  to  movement,  and  when  travelling  they  must  have  a 
pass.  If  they  ran  away  they  were  punished,  the  white 
servant  by  extra  service,  the  black  slave  by  whipping, 
but  this  different  punishment  for  the  slave  was  not  en 
acted  until  1700,  the  beginning  of  the  next  period.  Who 
ever  harbored  them  was  liable  to  the  master  for  dam 
ages.19  The  relations  between  master  and  servant  were 
likewise  simple.  The  servant  was  compelled  to  obey 
the  master.  If  he  resisted  or  struck  the  master,  he  was 
punished  at  the  discretion  of  the  court.  On  the  other 
hand  the  servant  was  to  be  treated  kindly.20 

The  period,  then,  prior  to  1700  was  characteristically 
a  period  of  servitude.  The  laws  spoke  of  servants  white 
and  black.21  The  regulations,  the  restrictions,  the  trials, 
the  punishments,  were  identical.  There  was  only  the 
one  difference:  white  servants  were  discharged  with 
freedom  dues  at  the  end  of  a  specified  number  of  years ; 
for  negroes  there  was  no  discharge ;  they  were  servants 
for  life,  that  is,  slaves. 

In  the  period  following  1700  this  difference  gradually 
became  apparent,  and  made  necessary  different  treat- 

18  Laws  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  .  .  .  1682-1700,  p.  153  (1683), 
211,  213  (1693).  For  running  away  white  servants  had  to  give  five  days 
of  extra  service  for  each  day  of  absence.  Ibid.,  166  (1683),  213  (1693). 
Harboring  cost  the  offender  five  shillings  a  day.  Ibid.,  152  (1683),  212 
(1693). 

20  Ibid.,   113   (1682);  ibid.,   102   (Laws  Agreed  upon  in  England). 

21  Ibid.,  152.     "  No  Servant  white  or  black  .  .  .  shall  at  anie  time  after 
publication  hereof  be  Attached  or  taken  into  Execution  for  his  Master 
or  Mistress  debt  "  . 


24  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

ment  and  distinct  laws.  This  resulted  from  a  recogni 
tion  of  the  dissimilarity  in  character  between  property 
based  on  temporary  service  and  that  based  on  service 
for  life.  In  the  first  place  perpetual  service  gave  rise 
to  a  new  class  of  slaves.  At  first  the  only  ones  in  Penn 
sylvania  were  such  negroes  as  were  imported  and  sold 
for  life.  But  after  a  time  children  were  born  to  them. 
These  children  were  also  slaves,  because  ownership  of 
a  negro  held  for  life  involved  ownership  of  his  offspring 
also,  since,  the  negro  being  debarred  by  economic  help 
lessness  from  rearing  children,  all  of  his  substance  be 
longing  to  his  master,  the  master  must  assume  the  cost 
of  rearing  them,  and  might  have  the  service  of  the 
children  as  recompense.22  This  was  the  source  of  the 
second  and  largest  class  of  slaves.  The  child  of  a  slave 
was  not  necessarily  a  slave  if  one  of  the  parents  was 
free.  The  line  of  servile  descent  lay  through  the 
mother.23  Accordingly  the  child  of  a  slave  mother  and 
a  free  father  was  a  slave,  of  a  free  mother  and  a  slave 
father  a  servant  for  a  term  of  years  only.  The  result 

22  The  rearing  of  slave  children  was  regarded  as  a  burden  by  owners. 
A  writer  declared  that  in  Pennsylvania  "  negroes  just  born  are  considered 
an  incumbrance  only,  and  if  humanity  did  not  forbid  it,  they  would  be 
instantly  given  away."     Pa.  Packet,  Jan.  i,  1780.     In  1732  the  Philadel 
phia  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ordered  a  man  to  take  back  a  negress  whom 
he  had  sold,  and  who  proved  to  be  pregnant.     He  was  to  refund  the  pur 
chase  money  and  the  money  spent  "  for  Phisic  and  Attendance  of  the 
Said  Negroe  in  her  Miserable  Condition."    MS.  Court  Papers.  1732-1744. 
Phila.  Co.,  June  9,  1732. 

23  The   Roman  doctrine  of  partus  sequitur  ventrem.     This  was  never 
established  by  law 'in  Pennsylvania,  and  during  colonial  times  was  never 
the  subject  of  a  court  decision  that  has  come  down.    That  it  was  the  usage, 
however,  there  is  abundant  proof.     In   1727   Isaac  Warner  bequeathed 
"  To  Wife  Ann  ...  a  negro  woman  named  Sarah  .  .  .  To  daughter  Ann 
Warner   (3)    an  unborn  negro  child  of  the  above  named   Sarah."     MS. 
Phila.  Co.  Will  Files,  no.  47,  1727.     In  1786  the  Supreme  Court  declared 
that  it  was  the  law  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  always  been  the  custom,  i 
Dallas   181. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  25 

of  the  application  of  this  doctrine  to  the  offspring  of  a 
negro  and  a  white  person  was  that  mulattoes  were 
divided  into  two  classes.  Some  were  servants  for  a  term 
of  years ;  the  others  formed  a  third  class  of  slaves. 

In  the  second  place  perpetual  service  gave  to  slave 
property  more  of  the  character  of  a  thing,  than  was  the 
case  when  the  time  of  service  was  limited.  The  service 
of  both  servants  and  slaves  was  a  thing,  which  might  be 
bought,  sold,  transferred  as  a  chattel,  inherited  and  be 
queathed  by  will ;  but  in  the  case  of  a  slave,  the  service 
being  perpetual,  the  idea  of  the  service  as  a  thing  tended 
.to  merge  into  the  idea  of  the  slave  himself  as  a  thing. 
The  law  did  not  attempt  to  carry  this  principle  very  far. 
It  never,  as  in  Virginia,  declared  the  slave  real  estate. 
In  Pennsylvania  he  was  emphatically  both  person  and 
thing,  with  the  conception  of  personality  somewhat  pre 
dominating.24  Yet  there  was  felt  to  be  a  decided  dif 
ference  between  the  slave  and  the  servant,  and  this,  to 
gether  with  the  desire  to  regulate  the  slave  as  a  negro 
distinguished  from  a  white  man,  was  the  cause  of  the 
distinctive  laws  of  the  second  period. 

"MS.  Abstract  of  Phila.  Co.  Wills,  Book  A,  63,  71,  (1693);  Will  of 
Samuel  Richardson  of  Philadelphia  in  Pa.  Mag.,  XXXIII,  373  (1719). 
In  1682  the  attorney-general  in  England  answering  an  inquiry  from 
Jamaica,  declared  "  That  where  goods  or  merchandise  are  by  Law  for 
feited  to  the  King,  the  sale  of  them  from  one  to  another  will  not  fix 
the  property  as  against  the  King,  but  they  may  be  seized  wherever  found 
whilst  they  remain  in  specie;  And  that  Negros  being  admitted  Merchan 
dise  will  fall  within  the  same  Law  ".  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Journals,  IV, 
124.  On  several  occasions  during  war  negro  slaves  were  captured  from 
the  enemy  and  brought  to  Pennsylvania,  where  they  were  sold  as  ordinary 
prize-goods — things.  In  1745,  however,  when  two  French  negro  prisoners 
produced  papers  showing  that  they  were  free,  they  were  held  for  ex 
change  as  prisoners  of  war — persons.  MS.  Provincial  Papers,  VII,  Oct. 
2,  1745.  For  the  status  of  the  negro  slave  as  real  estate  in  Virginia,  cf. 
Ballagh,  Hist,  of  Slavery  in  Virginia,  ch.  II.  In  1786  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Pennsylvania  decided  that  "  property  in  a  Negroe  may  be  obtained  by 
a  bona  fide  purchase,  without  deed."  i  Dallas  169. 


26  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

The  years  from  1700  to  1725-1726  are  marked  by  two 
great  laws  which  almost  by  themselves  make  up  the 
slave  code  of  Penrrjlvania.  The  first,  passed  in  1700 
and  passed  again  in  1705-1706,  regulated  the  trial  and 
punishments  of  slaves.25  It  marked  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era  in  the  regulation  of  negroes,  in  that,  subjecting 
them  to  different  courts  and  imposing  upon  them  dif 
ferent  penalties,  it  definitely  marked  them  off  as  a  class 
distinct  from  all  others  in  the  colony.  In  1725-1726 
further  advance  was  made.  Not  only  was  the  negro 
now  subjected  to  special  regulation  because  he  was  a 
slave,  but  whether  slave  or  free  he  was  now  made  sub 
ject  to  special  restrictions  because  he  was  a  negro. 
While  some  of  these  had  to  do  with  movement  and  be 
havior,  the  most  important  forbade  all  marriage  or  inter 
course  with  white  people.20  These  laws  must  be  ex 
amined  in  detail. 

From  the  very  first  was  seen  the  inevitable  difficulty 
involved  in  punishing  the  negro  criminal  as  a  person, 
and  yet  not  injuring  the  master's  property  in  the  thing. 
The  result  of  this  was  that  masters  were  frequently  led 
to  conceal  the  crimes  of  their  slaves,  or  to  take  the  law 
into  their  own  hands.27  The  solution  was  probably  felt 
to  be  the  removal  of  negroes  from  the  ordinary  courts. 
It  is  said,  also,  that  Penn  desired  to  protect  the  negro 
by  clearly  defining  his  crimes  and  apportioning  his 
punishments.  Accordingly  he  urged  the  law  of  ijoo.26 

25  "  An  Act  for  the  trial  of  Negroes."    Stat.  at  L.,  II,  77-79-    Repealed 
in  Council,    1705.     Ibid.,  II,   79;   Col.  Rec.,  I,  612,  613.     Passed  again 
with  slight  changes  in  1705-1706.     Stat.  at  L.,  II,  233-236. 

26  "  An  Act  for  the  better  regulating  of  Negroes  in  this  Province." 
Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  59-64.     It  became  law  by  lapse  of  time.     Ibid.,  IV,  64. 

27  "  An  Act  for  the  better  regulating  of  Negroes  in  this  Province  ", 
section  i.     Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  59. 

28  Cf.    Enoch    Lewis,    "Life   of    William    Penn"    (1841),    in    Friends' 
Library,  V,  315;  J.  R.  Tyson,  "Annual  Discourse  before  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania"  (1831),  in  Hazard's  Register,  VIII,  316. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  27 

Under  .this  law  negroes  when  accused  were  not  to  be 
tried  in  the  regular  courts  of  the  colony.  They  were  to 
be  presented  by  the  Courts  of  Quarter  Sessions,  but  the 
cases  were  to  be  dealt  with  by  special  courts  for  the  trial 
of  negroes,  composed  of  two  commissioned  justices  of 
the  peace  and  six  substantial  freeholders.  On  applica 
tion  these  courts  were  to  be  constituted  by  executive 
authority  when  occasion  demanded.  Witnesses  were 
to  be  allowed,  but  there  was  to  be  no  trial  by  jury.29  In 
such  courts  it  was  doubtless  easier  to  regard  the  slave  as 
property,  and  do  full  justice  to  the  rights  of  the  master. 

Something  was  still  wanting,  however,  for  in  case  the 
slave  criminal  was  condemned  to  death,  the  loss  fell  en 
tirely  on  the  master.  From  the  earliest  days  of  the  col 
ony  owners  had  been  praying  for  relief  from  this.  In 
1707  the  masters  of  two  slaves  petitioned  the  governor 
to  commute  the  death  sentence  to  chastisement  and 
transportation,  and  thus  save  them  from  pecuniary  loss. 
The  petition  was  granted.  Such  commutation  was  fre 
quently  sought,  and  in  the  special  courts  it  could  be  more 
readily  granted.80  The  real  solution,  however,  was  dis 
covered  in  1725-1726,  when  it  was  ordained  that  there- 

29  MS.  Minutes  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  Bucks  County,  1684-1730, 
P-  375  (1703);  MS.  "Bail,  John  Kendig  for  a  Negro,  29.  9  br  35,"  in 
Logan  Papers,  unbound;  "  An  Act  for  the  trial  of  Negroes,"  Stat.  at  L., 
II.  77-79  (1700),  233-236  (1705-1706);  Col.  Rec.,  Ill,  254;  IV,  243;  IX, 
648,  680,  704,  705,  707;  X,  73,  276.  For  the  commission  instituting  one 
of  these  special  courts  (1762),  see  MS.  Miscellaneous  Papers,  1684-1847, 
Chester  County,  149;  also  Diffenderffer,  "  Early  Negro  Legislation  in  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania,"  in  Christian  Culture,  Sept.  i,  1890.  Mr. 
Diffenderffer  cites  a  commission  of  Feb.  20,  1773,  but  is  puzzled  at  finding 
no  record  of  the  trial  of  negroes  in  the  records  of  the  local  Court  of 
Quarter  Sessions.  It  would  of  course  not  appear  there.  Special  dockets 
were  kept  for  the  special  courts.  Cf.  MS.  Records  of  Special  Courts  for 
the  Trial  of  Negroes,  held  at  Chester,  in  Chester  County.  The  law  was 
not  universally  applied  at  first.  In  1703  a  negro  was  tried  for  fornication 
before  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions.  MS.  Minutes  Court  of  Quarter 
Sessions  Bucks  County,  1684-1730,  p.  378. 

80  Col.  Rec.  I,  61;  II,  405,  406. 


28  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

after  if  any  slave  committed  a  capital  crime,  immedi 
ately  upon  conviction  the  justices  should  appraise  such 
slave,  and  pay  the  value  to  the  owner,  out  of  a  fund 
arising  principally  from  the  duty  on  negroes  imported.21 
These  laws  continued  in  force  until  1780,  and  down  to 
that  time  slaves  were  removed  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  regular  courts  of  the  province;  although  after  1776 
it  was  asserted  that  the  clause  about  trial  by  jury  in  the 
new  state  constitution  affected  slaves  as  well  as 
free  men;  and  a  slave  was  actually  so  tried  in  1779.*" 
Whether  this  view  prevailed  in  all  quarters  it  is  impos 
sible  to  say.  In  the  next  year  the  abolition  act  did  away 
with  the  special  courts  entirely.33 

81  "  An  Act  for  the  better  regulating  of  Negroes,"  etc.  Stat.  at  L.,  IV, 
59.     For  an  instance  of  such  valuation  in  the  case  of  two  slaves  con 
demned  for  burglary,  see  MS.  Provincial  Papers,  XXX,  July  29,    1773. 
The  governor,  however,  pardoned  these  negroes  on  condition  that  they 
be  transported. 

82  "  On  the  trials  Larry  the  slave  was  convicted  by  a  Jury  of  twelve 
Men  and  received  the  usual  sentence  of  whipping,  restitution  and  fine 
according  to  law.  .  .  .    This  case  is  published  as  being  the  first  instance  of  a 
slave's  being  tried  in  this  state  by  a  Grand  and  Petit  Jury.     Our  con 
stitution  provides  that  these  unhappy  men  shall  have  the  same  measure 
of  Justice  and  the  same  mode  of  trial  with  others,  their  fellow  creatures, 
when    charged    with   crimes    or    offences."      Pa.    Packet,    Feb.    16,    1779. 
Nevertheless  a  commission  for  a  special  court  had  been  issued  in  August, 
1777.     Cf.  "  Petition  of  Mary  Bryan,"  MS.  Misc.  Papers,  Aug.  15,  1777. 

33  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  72.  What  was  the  standing  of  negro  slaves  before 
the  ordinary  courts  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  years  between  1700  and  1780 
it  is  difficult  to  say.  They  certainly  could  not  be  witnesses — not  against 
white  men,  since  this  privilege  was  given  to  free  negroes  for  the  first 
time  in  1780  (Stat.  at  L.,  X,  70),  and  to  slaves  not  until  1847  (Laws  of 
Assembly,  1847,  p.  208);  while  if  they  were  witnesses  against  other  ne 
groes  it  would  be  before  special  courts.  Doubtless  negroes  could  some 
times  seek  redress  in  the  ordinary  courts,  though  naturally  the  number 
of  such  cases  would  be  limited.  There  is,  however,  at  least  one  instance 
of  a  white  man  being  sued  by  a  negro,  who  won  his  suit.  "  Francis 
Jn°son  the  Negro  verbally  complained  agst  Wm  Orion  .  .  .  and  after  plead 
ing  to  on  both  sides  the  Court  passed  Judgment  and  ordered  Wm  Orion  to 
pay  him  the  sd  Francis  Jn°son  twenty  shillings  "...  MS.  Ancient  Records 
of  Sussex  County,  1681  to  1709,  4th  mo.,  1687.  Before  1700  negroes  were 
tried  before  the  ordinary  courts,  and  there  is  at  least  one  case  where  a 
negro  witnessed  against  a  white  man.  Ibid.,  8br  1687. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  29 

The  law  of  1700,  which  marked  the  differentiation  of 
slaves  from  servants,  marked  also  the  beginning  of  dis 
crimination.  For  negroes  there  were  to  be  different 
punishments  as  well  as  a  different  mode  of  trial.  Mur 
der,  buggery,  burglary,  or  rape  of  a  white  woman,  were 
to  be  punished  by  death ;  attempted  rape  by  castration ; 
robbing  and  stealing  by  whipping,  the  master  to  make 
good  the  theft."  This  law  was  repeated  in  1705-1706, 
except  that  the  punishment  for  attempted  rape  was  now 
made  whipping,  branding,  imprisonment,  and  transporta 
tion,  while  these  same  penalties  were  to  be  imposed  for 
theft  over  five  pounds.  Theft  of  an  article  worth  less  than 
five  pounds  entailed  whipping  up  to  thirty-nine  lashes.85 
For  white  people  at  this  time,  whether  servants  or  free, 
there  was  a  different  code." 

A  far  more  important  discrimination  was  made  in 
1725-1726  by  the  law  which  forbade  mixture  of  the 
races.  There  had  doubtless  been  some  intercourse 
from  the  first.  A  white  servant  was  indicted  for  this 

84  Stat.  at  L.,  II,  77-79;  Col,  Rec.,  I,  612,  613.  Instances  of  negro 
crime  are  mentioned  in  MS.  Records  of  Special  Courts  for  the  Trial  of 
Negroes — Chester  County.  For  a  case  of  arson  punished  with  death,  cf. 
Col.  Rec.,  IV,  243.  For  two  negroes  condemned  to  death  for  burglary, 
ibid.,  IX,  6,  also  699.  The  punishment  for  the  attempted  rape  of  a  white 
woman  was  the  one  point  that  caused  the  disapproval  of  the  attorney- 
general  in  England,  and,  probably,  led  to  the  passage  of  the  revised  act 
in  1705-1706.  Cf.  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Papers,  Prop.,  VIII,  40,  Bb. 
For  restitution  by  masters,  which  was  frequently  very  burdensome,  cf. 
MS.  Misc.  Papers,  Oct.  9,  1780. 

35  Stat.  at  L.,  II,  233-236.  These  punishments  were  continued  until 
repealed  in  1780,  (Stat.  at  L.,  X,  72),  when  the  penalty  for  robbery  and 
burglary  became  imprisonment.  This  bore  entirely  on  the  master,  so 
that  in  1790  Governor  Mifflin  asked  that  corporal  punishment  be  substi 
tuted.  Hazard's  Register,  II,  74.  For  theft  whipping  continued  to  be 
imposed,  but  guilty  white  people  were  punished  in  the  same  manner.  MS. 
Petitions,  Lancaster  County,  1761-1825,  May,  1784.  MS.  Misc.  Papers, 
July,  1780. 

88  See  below,  p.  in. 


30  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

offence  in  1677;  and  a  tract  of  land  in  Sussex  County 
bore  the  name  of  "  Mulatto  Hall."  In  1698  the  Chester 
County  Court  laid  down  the  principle  that  mingling  of 
the  races  was  not  to  be  allowed.37  The  matter  went  be 
yond  this,  for  in  1722  a  woman  was  punished  for  abet 
ting  a  clandestine  marriage  between  a  white  woman  and 
a  negro.88  A  few  months  thereafter  the  Assembly  re 
ceived  a  petition  from  inhabitants  of  the  province, 
inveighing  against  the  wicked  and  scandalous  practice 
of  negroes  cohabiting  with  white  people.89  It  appeared 
to  the  Assembly  that  a  law  was  needed,  and  they  set 
about  framing  one.  Accordingly  in  the  law  of  1725- 
1726  they  provided  stringent  penalties.  No  negro  was 
to  be  joined  in  marriage  with  any  white  person  upon 
any  pretense  whatever.  A  white  person  violating  this 
was  to  forfeit  thirty  pounds,  or  be  sold  as  a  servant  for 
a  period  not  exceeding  seven  years.  A  clergyman  who 
abetted  such  a  marriage  was  to  pay  one  hundred 
pounds.40 

The  law  did  not  succeed  in  checking  cohabitation, 

37  "  For  that  hee  .  .   .   contrary  to  the   Lawes  of  the   Governmt  and 
Contrary  to  his  Masters  Consent  hath  .  .  .  got  wth  child  a  certaine  molato 
wooman  Called  Swart  anna"  .  .  .     MS.  Rec.  Court  at  Upland,  19;  Penn 
MSS.  Papers  relating  to  the  Three  Lower  Counties,   1629-1774,  p.   193; 
MS.    Minutes   Abington   Monthly   Meeting,    27    ist   mo.,    1693.      "  David 
Lewis  Constable  of  Haverfoord  Returned  A  Negro  man  of  his  And  A 
white  woman  for  haveing  A  Easter  Childe  .  .  .  the  negroe  said  she  Intised 
him  and  promised  him  to  marry  him:  she  being  examined,  Confest  the 
same:  .  .  .  the  Court  ordered  that  she  shall  Receive  Twenty  one  laishes  on 
her  beare  Backe  .  .  .  and  the  Court  ordered  the  negroe  never  more  to  med 
dle  with  any  white  woman  more  uppon  paine  of  his  life."     MS.   Min. 
Chester  Co.  Courts,  1697-1710,  p.  24. 

38  MS.  Ancient  Rec.  of  Phila.,  Nov.  4,  1722. 

39  Votes  and  Proceedings,  II,  336. 

40  Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  62.     Cf.  Votes  and  Proceedings,  II,  337,  345.     For 
marriage  or  cohabiting  without  the  master's  consent  a  servant  had  to  atone 
with  extra  service.     Cf.  Stat.  ai  L.,  II,  22.     This  obviously  would  not 
check  a  slave. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  31 

though  of  marriages  of  slaves  with  white  people  there 
is  almost  no  record.41  There  exists  no  definite  informa 
tion  as  to  the  number  of  mulattoes  in  the  colony  during 
this  period,  but  advertisements  for  runaway  slaves  indi 
cate  that  there  were  very  many  of  them.  The  slave 
register  of  1780  for  Chester  County  shows  that  they 
constituted  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  slave  population  in 
that  locality.42  It  must  be  said  that  the  stigma  of  illicit 
intercourse  in  Pennsylvania  would  not  generally  seem 
to  rest  upon  the  masters,  but  rather  upon  servants,  out 
casts,  and  the  lowlier  class  of  whites.43 

Negro  slaves  were  subject  to  another  class  of  restric 
tions  which  were  made  against  them  rather  as  slaves 
than  as  black  men.  These  concerned  freedom  of  move 
ment  and  freedom  of  action.  During  the  earlier  years 
of  the  colony's  history  regulation  of  the  movements  of 
the  slaves  rested  principally  in  the  hands  of  the  owners. 
The  continual  complaints  about  the  tumultuous  assem 
bling  of  negroes,  to  be  noticed  presently,  would  seem  to 

41  Apparently  such  a  marriage  had  occurred  in  1722.     MS.  Ancient  Rec. 
Phila.,    Nov.   4,    1722,   which  mention  "  the   Clandestine  mariage  of   Mr 
Tuthil's  Negro  and  Katherine  Williams."     The  petitioner,  who  was  im 
prisoned  for  abetting  the  marriage,  concludes:   "  I  have  Discover'd  who 
maried  the  foresd  Negroe,  and  shall  acquaint  your  honrs." 

42  American  Weekly  Mercury,  Nov.  9,  1727;    Pa.  Gazette,  Feb.  7,  1739- 
1740;  and  passim.    Mittelberger  mentions  them  in  1750.    Cf.  Journey  to 
Pennsylvania,  etc.,  107;  MS.  Register  of  Slaves  in  Chester  County,  1780. 

48  "  A  circumstance  not  easily  believed,  is,  that  the  subjection  of  the 
negroes  has  not  corrupted  the  morals  of  their  masters  "...  Abbe  Raynal, 
British  Settlements  in  North  America  I,  163.  Raynal's  authority  is  very 
poor.  The  assertion  in  the  text  rests  rather  on  negative  evidence.  Cf. 
Votes  and  Proceedings,  1766,  p.  30,  for  an  instance  of  a  white  woman 
prostitute  to  negroes.  Ibid.,  1767-1776,  p.  666,  for  evidence  as  to  mulatto 
bastards  by  pauper  white  women.  Also  MS.  Misc.  Papers,  Mar.  12,  1783. 
For  a  case  (1715)  where  the  guilty  white  man  was  probably  not  a  servant 
cf.  MS.  Court  Papers,  Phila.  Co.,  1697-1732.  Benjamin  Franklin  was 
openly  accused  of  keeping  negro  paramours.  Cf.  What  is  Sauce  for  a 
Goose  is  also  Sauce  for  a  Gander,  etc.  (1764),  6;  A  Humble  Attempt  at 
Scurrility,  etc.  (1765),  40. 


32  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

indicate  that  considerable  leniency  was  exercised.4*  But 
frequently  white  people  lured  them  away,  and  harbored 
and  employed  them.45  The  law  of  1725-1726  was  in 
tended  specially  to  stop  this.  No  negro  was  to  go 
farther  than  ten  miles  from  home  without  written  leave 
from  his  master,  under  penalty  of  ten  lashes  on  his  bare 
back.  Nor  was  he  to  be  away  from  his  master's  house, 
except  by  special  leave,  after  nine  o'clock  at  night,  nor 
to  be  found  in  tippling-houses,  under  like  penalty.  For 
preventing  these  things  counter-restrictions  were  im 
posed  upon  white  people.  They  were  forbidden  to  em 
ploy  such  negroes,  or  knowingly  to  harbor  or  shelter 
them,  except  in  very  unseasonable  weather,  under  pen 
alty  of  thirty  shillings  for  every  twenty-four  hours. 
Finally  it  was  provided  that  negroes  were  not  to  meet 
together  in  companies  of  more  than  four.  This  last 
seems  to  have  remained  a  dead  letter.46 

That  this  legislation  failed  to  produce  the  desired  ef 
fect  is  shown  by  the  experience  of  Philadelphia  in  deal 
ing  with  negro  disorder.  Such  disorder  was  complained 
of  as  early  as  1693,  when,  on  presentment  of  the  grand 
jury,  it  was  directed  that  the  constables  or  any  other 
person  should  arrest  such  negroes  as  they  might  find 
gadding  abroad  on  first  days  of  the  week,  without  writ 
ten  permission  from  the  master,  and  take  them  to  jail, 
where,  after  imprisonment,  they  should  be  given  thirty- 
nine  lashes  well  laid  on,  to  be  paid  for  by  the  master. 
This  seems  to  have  been  enforced  but  laxly,  for  in  1702 

44  See  below. 

45  Cf.  Col.  Rec.,  I,  117. 

**Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  59-64,  (sections  IX-XIII).  Tippling-houses  seem  to 
have  given  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  In  1703  the  grand  jury  presented 
several  persons  "  for  selling  Rum  to  negros  and  others  "...  MS.  Ancient 
Rec.  of  Phila.,  Nov.  3,  1703.  Cf.  also  presentment  of  the  grand  jury, 
Jan.  2,  1744.  Pa.  Mag.,  XXII,  498. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE  33 

the  grand  jury  presented  the  matter  again,  and  their 
recommendation  was  repeated  with  warmth  in  the  year 
following.47  A  few  years  later  they  urged  measures  to 
suppress  .the  unruly  negroes  of  the  city.48  In  1732  the 
council  was  forced  to  recommend  an  ordinance  to  bring 
this  about,  and  such  an  ordinance  was  drawn  up  and 
considered.  Next  year  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends 
petitioned,  and  the  matter  was  taken  up  again,  but  noth 
ing  came  of  it,  so  that  the  council  was  compelled  .to  ob 
serve  that  further  legislation  was  assuredly  needed.48 
In  1741  the  grand  jury  presented  the  matter  strongly,50 
and  an  explicit  order  was  at  last  given  that  constables 
should  disperse  meetings  of  negroes  within  half  an  hour 
after  sunset.61  The  nuisance,  probably,  was  still  not 

47  Col.  Rec.,  I,  380-381.     "  The  great  abuse  and  111  consiquence  of  the 
great  multitudes  of  negroes  who  commonly  meete  togeither  in  a  Riott  and 
tumultious  manner  on  the  first  days  of  the  weeke."     MS.  Ancient  Rec.  of 
Phila.,  28  7th  mo.,  1702;  ibid.,  Nov.  3,  1703. 

48  "  The  Grand  Inquest  ...  do  present  that  whereas  there  has  been  Divers 
Rioters  .  .  .  and  the  peace  of  our  Lord  the  King  Disturbers,  by  Divers  In 
fants,  bond  S'ervants,  and  Negros,  within  this  City  after  it  is  Duskish  .  .  . 
that  Care  may  be  taken  to  Suppress  the  unruly  Negroes  of  this  City  ac 
companying  to  gether  on  the  first  Day  of  the  weeke,  and  that  they  may 
not  be  Suffered  to  walk  the  Streets  in  Companys  after  it  is  Darke  without 
their  Masters  Leave  "...  MS.  Ancient  Rec.  of  Phila.,  Apr.  4,  1717. 

43  Minutes  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  1704-1776, 
3M,   3i5,   316,  326,  342,  376;  Col.  Rec.,  IV,  224,   (1737). 

50  "  The  Grand  Inquest  now  met  humly  Represent  to  This  honourable 
Court  the  great  Disorders  Commited  On  the  first  Dayes  of  the  week  By 
Servants,    apprentice  boys   and   Numbers  of   Negros       it  has  been   with 
great  Concearn   Observed   that  the   Whites  in   their  Tumultious   Resorts 
in  the  markets  and  other  placies  most  Darringly  Swear  Curse  Lye  Abuse 
and  often  fight  Striving  to  Excell  in  all   Leudness  and  Obsenity  which 
must  produce  a  generall  Corruption  of  Such  youth  If  not  Timely  Remi- 
dieed  and  from  the  Concourse  of  Negroes  Not  only  the  above  Mischeiffs 
but  other  Dangers  may  issue  "...  MS.  Court  Papers,  1732-1744,  Phila. 
Co.,  1741. 

51  "  Many  disorderly  persons  meet  every  evg.   about  the   Court  house 
of  this   city,  and  great   numbers   of  Negroes   and   others  sit  there   with 
milk  pails,  and  other  things,  late  at  night,  and  many  disorders  are  there 
committed  against  the  peace  and  good  government  of  this  city  "     Min 
utes   Common   Council  of  Phila.,   405. 


34  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

abated,  for  in  1761  the  mayor  caused  to  be  published 
in  the  papers  previous  legislation  on  the  subject.52  Noth 
ing  further  seems  to  have  been  done. 

The  continued  failure  to  suppress  these  meetings  in 
defiance  of  a  law  of  the  province,  must  be  attributed 
either  to  the  intrinsic  difficulty  of  enforcing  such  a  law, 
or  to  the  fact  that  the  meetings  were  objectionable  be 
cause  of  their  rude  and  boisterous  character,  rather 
than  because  of  any  positive  misdemeanor.  More  prob 
ably  still  this  is  but  one  of  the  many  pieces  of  evidence 
which  show  how  leniently  .the  negro  was  treated  in 
Pennsylvania. 

The  third  period,  from  1726  to  1780,  is  distinguished 
more  because  of  the  lack  of  important  legislation  about 
the  negro  than  through  any  marked  character  of  its  own. 
The  outlines  of  the  colony's  slave  code  had  now  been 
drawn,  and  no  further  constructive  work  was  done. 
There  is,  however,  one  class  of  laws  which  may  be  as 
signed  to  this  period,  since  the  majority  of  them 
fall  chronologically  within  its  limits,  though  they  are 
scarcely  more  characteristic  of  it  than  they  are  of  either 
of  the  two  periods  preceding.  All  of  these  laws  imposed 
restrictions  upon  the  actions  of  negro  slaves  in  matters 
in  which  white  people  were  restricted  also,  but  the  re 
strictions  were  embodied  in  special  sections  of  the  laws, 
because  of  the  negro's  inability  to  pay  a  fine :  the  law 
imposing  corporal  punishment  upon  the  slave,  whenever 
it  exacted  payment  in  money  or  imprisonment  from 
others. 

Thus,  an  act  forbidding  the  use  of  fireworks  without 
the  governor's  permission,  states  that  the  slave  instead 

52  Pa.  Gazette,  Nov.  12,  1761. 


LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE       35 

of  being  imprisoned  shall  be  publicly  whipped.  An 
other  provides  that  if  a  slave  set  fire  to  any  woodlands 
or  marshes  he  shall  be  whipped  not  exceeding  twenty- 
one  lashes.  As  far  back  as  1700  whipping  had  been 
made  the  punishment  of  a  slave  who  carried  weapons 
without  his  master's  permission.  In  1750-1751  partici 
pation  in  a  horse-race  or  shooting-match  entailed  first 
fifteen  lashes,  and  then  twenty-one,  together  with  six 
days'  imprisonment  for  the  first  offense,  and  ten  days' 
imprisonment  thereafter.  In  1760  hunting  on  Indians' 
lands  or  on  other  people's  lands,  shooting  in  the  city,  or 
hunting  on  Sunday,  were  forbidden  under  penalty  of 
whipping  up  to  thirty-one  lashes.  In  1750-1751  the 
penalty  for  offending  against  the  night  watch  in  Phila 
delphia  was  made  twenty-one  lashes  and  imprisonment 
in  the  work-house  for  three  days  at  hard  labor ;  for  the 
second  offence,  thirty-one  lashes  and  six  days.  Some 
times  it  was  provided  that  a  slave  might  be  punished  as 
a  free  man,  if  his  master  would  stand  for  him.  Thus  a 
slave  offending  against  the  regulations  for  wagoners 
was  to  be  whipped,  or  fined,  if  his  master  would  pay  the 
fine.63 

So  far  the  slave  was  under  the  regulation  of  the  state. 
He  was  also  subject  to  the  regulation  of  his  owner,  who, 

53  "  An  Act  for  preventing  Accidents  that  may  happen  by  Fire,"  sect. 
IV,  Stat.  at  L.,  Ill,  254  (1721);  "  An  Act  to  prevent  the  Damages,  which 
may  happen,  by  firing  of  Woods,"  <etc.,  sect.  Ill,  ibid,,  IV,  282  (1735); 
"An  Act  for  the  trial  of  Negroes,"  sect.  V,  ibid.,  II,  79  (1700);  "An 
Act  for  the  more  effectual  preventing  Accidents  which  may  happen  by 
Fire,  and  for  suppressing  Idleness,  Drunkenness,  and  other  Debauch 
eries,"  sect.  Ill,  ibid.,  V,  109,  no  (1750-1751);  "  An  Act  to  prevent  the 
Hunting  of  Deer,"  etc.,  sect.  VII,  ibid.,  VI,  49  (1760);  "  An  Act  for  the 
better  regulating  the  nightly  Watch  within  the  city  of  Philadelphia,"  etc., 
sect.  XXII,  ibid.,  V,  126  (1750-1751);  repeated  in  1756,  1763,  1766,  1771, 
ibid.,  V,  241;  VI,  309;  VII,  7;  VIII,  115;  "An  Act  for  regulating 
Wagoners,  Carters,  Draymen,  and  Porters,"  etc.,  sect.  VII,  ibid.,  VI,  68 
(1761);  repeated  in  1763  and  1770,  ibid.  VI,  250;  VII,  359,  360. 


36  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

in  matters  concerning  himself  and  not  directly  covered 
by  laws,  could  enforce  obedience  by  corporal  punish 
ment.  This  was  sometimes  administered  at  the  public 
whipping-post,  the  master  sending  an  order  for  a  cer 
tain  number  of  lashes.54  But  the  slave  was  not  given 
over  absolutely  into  the  master's  power.  If  he  had  to 
obey  the  laws  of  the  state,  he  could  also  expect  the  pro 
tection  of  the  state.55  The  master  could  not  starve  him, 
nor  overwork  him,  nor  torture  him.  Against  these 
things  he  could  appeal  to  the  public  authorities.  More 
over  public  opinion  was  powerfully  against  them.  If 
a  master  killed  his  slave  the  law  dealt  with  him  as 
though  his  victim  were  a  white  man.56  It  is  not  probable, 
to  be  sure,  that  the  sentence  was  often  carried  out,  but 
such  cases  did  not  often  arise.57 

Such  was  .the  legal  status  of  the  slave  in  Pennsylvania. 
Before  1700  it  was  ill  defined,  but  probably  much  like 
that  of  the  servant,  having  only  the  distinctive  incident 
of  perpetual  service,  and  the  developing  incident  of  the 
transmission  of  servile  condition  to  offspring.  Gradu- 

54  Cf.  the  story  of  Hodge's  Cato,  told  in  Watson,  Annals  of  Philadel 
phia  and  Pennsylvania  in  the  Olden   Time,  etc.,  II,  263. 

55  Cf.  Achenwall,  who  got  his  information  from  Franklin,  Anmerkungen, 
25 :  "  Diese  Mohrensclaven  geniessen  als  Unterthanen  des  Staats  .  .  .  den 
Schutz   der   Gesetze,   so   gut  als   freye   Einwohner.      Wenn  ein   Colonist, 
auch  selbst  der  Eigenthumsherr,  einen   Schwarzen  umbringt,  so  wird  er 
gleichfalls   zum  Tode   verurtheilt.      Wenn    der  Herr   seinem    Sclaven   zu 
harte  Arbeit  auflegt,  oder  ihn  sonst  iibel  behandelt,  so  kan  er  ihn  beym 
Richter  verklagen."     Also  Kalm,  Travels,  I,  390. 

36  "  Yesterday  at  a  Supream  Court  held  in  this  City,  sentence  of  Death 
was  passed  upon  William  Bullock,  who  was  .  .  .  Convicted  of  the  Murder  of 
his  Negro  Slave."  American  Weekly  Mercury,  Apr.  29,  1742. 

67  Kalm  (1748)  said  that  there  was  no  record  of  such  a  sentence  being 
carried  out;  but  he  adds  that  a  case  having  arisen,  even  the  magistrates 
secretly  advised  the  guilty  person  to  leave  the  country,  "  as  otherwise  they 
could  not  avoid  taking  him  prisoner,  and  then  he  would  be  condemned 
to  die  according  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  without  any  hopes  of  saving 
him".  Travels,  I,  391,  392.  For  a  case  cf.  Pa.  Gazette,  Feb.  24,  1741-1742. 


uwivr.. 

v         o* 

LEGAL  STATUS  OF  THE  SLAVE*f6UEfB& 

ally  it  became  altogether  different.  To  the  slave  now 
appertained  a  number  of  incidents  of  lower  status.  He 
was  tried  in  separate  courts,  subject  to  special  judges, 
and  punished  with  different  penalties.  Admixture  with 
white  people  was  sternly  prohibited.  He  was  subject 
to  restrictions  upon  movement,  conduct,  and  action.  He 
could  be  corrected  with  corporal  punishment.  The 
slave  legislation  of  Pennsylvania  involved  discrimina 
tions  based  both  upon  inferior  status,  and  what  was  re 
garded  as  inferior  race.  Nevertheless  it  will  be  shown 
that  in  most  respects  the  punishments  and  restrictions 
imposed  upon  negro  slaves  were  either  similar  to  those 
imposed  upon  white  servants,  or  involved  discrimina 
tions  based  upon  the  inability  of  the  slave  to  pay  a  fine, 
and  upon  the  fact  that  mere  imprisonment  punished  the 
master  alone.  Moreover,  what  harshness  there  was 
must  be  ascribed  partly  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  which 
made  harsher  laws  for  both  white  men  and  black  men. 
The  slave  x:ode  almost  never  comprehended  any  cruel  or 
unusual  punishments.  As  a  legal  as  well  as  a  social  sys 
tem  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  was  mild. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  OF  SLAVERY. 

THE  mildness  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  impressed 
every  observer.  Acrelius  said  that  negroes  were  treated 
better  there  than  anywhere  else  in  America.  Peter 
Kalm  said  that  compared  with  the  condition  of  white 
servants  their  condition  possessed  equal  advantages  ex 
cept  that  they  were  obliged  to  serve  their  whole  life 
time  without  wages.  Hector  St.  John  Crevecoeur  de 
clared  that  they  enjoyed  as  much  liberty  as  their  mas 
ters,  that  they  were  in  effect  part  of  their  masters'  fam 
ilies,  and  that,  living  thus,  they  considered  themselves 
happier  than  many  of  the  lower  class  of  whites.1  There 
is  good  reason  for  believing  these  statements,  since  a 
careful  study  of  the  sources  shows  that  generally  mas 
ters  used  their  negroes  kindly  and  with  moderation.2 

Living  in  a  land  of  plenty  the  slaves  were  well  fed 
and  comfortably  clothed.  They  had  as  good  food  as  the 
white  servants,  says  one  traveller,  and  another  says  as 
good  as  their  masters.8  In  1759  the  yearly  cost  of  the 
food  of  a  slave  was  reckoned  at  about  twenty  per  cent, 
of  his  value.4  Likewise  they  were  well  clad,  their 

1  Acrelius,  Description  of  New  Sweden,  169  (1759);  Kalm,  Travels,  I, 
394  (1748);  Hector  St.  John  Crevecoeur,  Letters  from  an  American 
Farmer,  222  (just  before  the  Revolution). 

8  When  one  of  Christopher  Marshall's  white  servants  "  struck  and 
kickt  "  his  negro  woman,  he  "  could  scarcely  refrain  from  kicking  him 
out  of  the  House  &c  &c  &c."  MS.  Remembrancer,  E,  July  22,  1779. 

3  Kalm,   I,   394;    St.   John  Crevecceur,  221.     Benjamin   Lay  contradicts 
this,  but  allowance  must  always  be  made  for  the  extremeness  of  his  as 
sertions.     Cf.  his  All  Slave-Keepers  Apostates   (1737),  93- 

4  Acrelius,    169. 

38 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  39 

clothes  being  furnished  by  the  masters.  That  clothes 
were  a  considerable  item  of  expense  is  shown  by  the  old 
household  accounts  and  diaries.  Acrelius  computed  the 
yearly  cost  at  five  per  cent,  of  a  slave's  value.5  In  the 
newspaper  advertisements  for  runaways  occur  particu 
larly  full  descriptions  of  their  dress.8  Almost  always 
they  have  a  coat  or  jacket,  shoes,  and  stockings.7  It  is 
true  that  when  they  ran  away  they  generally  took  the 
best  they  had,  if  not  all  they  had  ;  but  making  due  allow 
ance  it  seems  certain  that  they  were  well  clad,  as  an 
advertiser  declared.8 

As  to  shelter,  since  the  climate  and  economy  of  Penn 
sylvania  never  gave  rise  to  a  plantation  life,  rows  of 

5  St.  John  Crevecoeur,  221;  Kalm,  I,  394;  Acrelius,  169.  Personal  papers 
contain  numerous  notices.  "  To  i  pr  Shoes  for  the  negro  .  .  .  6  "  (sh.). 
MS.  William  Penn's  Account  Book,  1690-1693,  p.  2  (1690).  A  "  Bill  ren 
dered  by  Christian  Grafford  to  James  Steel  "  is  as  follows:  "  Making  old 
Holland  Jeakit  and  breeches  fit  for  your  Negero  0.3.0  Making  2  new 
Jeakits  and  2  pair  breeches  of  stripped  Linen  for  both  your  Negeromans 
0.14.0  And  also  for  Little  Negero  boy  0.4.0  Making  2  pair  Leather 
Breeches,  i  for  James  Sanders  and  another  for  your  Negroeman  Zeason 
0.13.0."  Pa.  Mag.,  XXXIII,  121  (1740).  The  bill  rendered  for  the  shoes 
of  Thomas  Penn's  negroes  in  1764-1765  amounted  to  £7  7  sh.  3d.,  the 
price  per  pair  averaging  about  7  sh.  6d.  Penn-Physick  MSS.,  IV,  223. 
Also  ibid.,  IV,  265,  267.  Cf.  Penn  Papers,  accounts  (unbound),  Aug.  19, 
1741;  Christopher  Marshall's  Remembrancer,  E,  June  i,  1779. 

8  Thus  Cato  had  on  "  two  jackets,  the  uppermost  a  dark  blue  half  thick, 
lined  with  red  flannel,  the  other  a  light  blue  homespun  flannel,  without 
lining,  ozenbrigs  shirt,  old  leather  breeches,  yarn  stockings,  old  shoes,  and 
an  old  beaver  hat  "...  Pa.  Gazette,  May  5,  1748.  A  negro  from  Chester 
County  wore  "  a  lightish  coloured  cloath  coat,  with  metal  buttons,  and 
lined  with  striped  linsey,  a  lightish  linsey  jacket  with  sleeves,  and  red 
waistcoat,  tow  shirt,  old  lightish  cloth  breeches,  and  linen  drawers,  blue 
stockings,  and  old  shoes."  Ibid.,  Jan.  3,  1782.  Judith  wore  "  a  green 
jacket,  a  blue  petticoat,  old  shoes,  and  grey  stockings,  and  generally 
wears  silver  bobbs  in  her  ears."  Ibid.,  Feb.  16,  1747-1748. 

7  Amer.   Weekly  Mercury,  Jan.   31,   1721;  Jan.   31,   1731;  Pa.  Gazette, 
Oct.  22,   1747;  May  5,    1748;  Apr.   16,   1761;  Jan.   3,   1782;  Pa.  Journal, 
Feb.  5,   1750-1751;  Pa.  Mag.,  XVIII,  385. 

8  Pa.  Gazette,  May  3,   1775.     Supported  by  advertisements  passim. 


40  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

negro  cabins  and  quarters  for  the  hands  never  became  a 
distinctive  feature.  Slaves  occupied  such  lodgings  as 
were  assigned  to  white  servants,  generally  in  the  house 
of  the  master.  This  was  doubtless  not  the  case  where 
a  large  number  was  held.  They  can  hardly  have  been 
so  accommodated  by  Jonathan  Dickinson  of  Philadel 
phia,  who  had  thirty-two.9 

In  the  matter  of  service  their  lot  was  a  fortunate  one. 
There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  they  were  treated  much 
more  kindly  than  the  negroes  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
that  they  were  far  happier  than  the  slaves  in  the  lower 
South.  It  is  said  that  they  were  not  obliged  to  labor 
more  than  white  people,  and,  although  this  may  hardly 
have  been  so,  and  although,  indeed,  there  is  occasional 
evidence  that  they  were  worked  hard,  yet  for  the  most 
part  it  is  clear  that  they  were  not  overworked.10  The 
advertisements  of  negroes  for  sale  show,  as  migHt  be 
expected,  that  most  of  the  slaves  were  either  house- 
servants  or  farm-hands.11  Nevertheless  the  others  were 

9  MS.  Dickinson  Papers,  unclassified.     A  farm  with  a  stone  house  for 
negroes  is  mentioned  in  Pa.  Gaz.,  June  26,   1746.     "  Part  of  these  slaves 
lived    in   their   master's    family,   the   others   had   separate   cabins   on   the 
farm  where  they  reared  families  "...    "  Jacob  Minshall  Homestead  "  in 
Reminiscence,  Gleanings  and  Thoughts,  No.  I,   12. 

10  Kalm,  Travels,  I,  394.     For  treatment  of  negroes  in  the  West  Indies, 
cf.    Sandiford,   The  Mystery   of  Iniquity,   99    (1730);    Benezet,   A   Short 
Account  of  that  Part  of  Africa  Inhabited  by  the  Negroes  (1762),  55,  56, 
note;   Benezet,   A   Caution  and   Warning  to   Great  Britain  and  Her  Col 
onies  in  a  Short  Representation  of  the  Calamitous  State  of  the  Enslaved 
Negroes  (1766),  5-9;  Benezet,  Some  Historical  Account  of  Guinea  (1771), 
chap.  VIII.     For  treatment  in  the  South,  cf.  Whitefield,   Three  Letters 
(1740),  13,  71;  Chastellux,   Voyage  en  Amerique  (1786),  130.    For  treat 
ment  in   Pennsylvania  cf.   Kalm,   Travels,   I,   394;    St.   John   Crevecoeur, 
Letters,  221.      Acrelius  says  that  the  negroes   at  the  iron-furnaces  were 
allowed   to   stop   work   for   "  four   months  in   summer,   when   the  heat  is 
most   oppressive."      Description,    168. 

11  Mercury,  Gazette,  and  Pa.  Packet,  passim.  Most  of  the  taverns  seem 
to   have   had   negro   servants.      Cf.    MS.   Assessment   Book,    Chester   Co., 
J7&9,  P-   *46;  of  Bucks  Co.,   1779,  p.  84. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  41 

engaged  in  a  surprisingly  large  number  of  different  oc 
cupations.  Among  them  were  bakers,  blacksmiths,  brick 
layers,  brush-makers,  carpenters,  coopers,  curriers,  dis 
tillers,  hammermen,  refiners,  sail-makers,  sailors,  shoe 
makers,  tailors,  and  tanners.12  The  negroes  employed  at 
the  iron-furnaces  received  special  mention.13  The 
women  cooked,  sewed,  did  house-work,  and  at  times 
were  employed  as  nurses.14  When  the  service  of  ne 
groes  was  needed  they  were  often  hired  from  their 
masters,  but  as  a  rule  they  were  bought.15  They  were 
frequently  trusted  and  treated  almost  like  members  of 
the  family.18 

18  Mercury,  Mar.  3,  1723-1724;  Dec.  15,  1724;  July  4,  1728;  Aug.  24, 
1732;  Gazette,  Feb.  7,  1740;  Dec.  3,  1741;  May  20,  1742;  Nov.  i,  1744; 
July  9,  Dec.  3,  1761;  Packet,  July  5,  1733- 

13  "  The    laborers   are   generally   composed    partly   of   negroes    (slaves) 
partly  of  servants  from  Germany  or  Ireland  "...    Acrelius,  Description, 
168.     Cf.  Gabriel  Thomas,  An  Historical  and  Geographical  Account  of  the 
Province  and  Country   of  Pensilvania  (1698),  etc.,   28. 

14  Mercury,  Jan.    16,    1727-1728;  July  25,   1728;   Nov.   7,   1728.  Gazette, 
July  17,  1740;  Mar.  31,  1743.     "A  compleat  washerwoman  "  is  advertised 
in  the  Gazette,  Oct.   i,  1761;  also  "an  extraordinary  washer  of  clothes," 
Gazette,  Apr.    12,   1775;  Penn-Physick,  MSS  IV,  203   (1740). 

15  Gazette,  May  19,  1743;  July  n,  1745;  Nov.  5,   1761;  May  15,   1776; 
Dec.  15,  1779.     Cf.  notices  in  William  Penn's  Cash  Book  (MS.),  3,  6,  9, 
15,   18;  John  Wilson's  Cash  Book  (MS.),  Feb.  23,  1776;  MS.  Phila.  Ac 
count    Book,    38    (1694);    MS.    Logan   Papers,    II,    259    (1707);    Richard 
Hayes's   Ledger    (MS.),   88    (1716). 

18  Cf.  the  numerous  allusions  to  his  negro  woman  made  by  Christo 
pher  Marshall  in  his  Remembrancer.  An  entry  in  John  Wilson's  Cash 
Book  (MS.),  Apr.  27,  1770,  says:  "paid  his"  (Joseph  Pemberton's) 
"  Negro  woman  Market  mony  .  .  .  7/6."  The  following  advertisement  is 
illustrative,  although  perhaps  it  reveals  the  advertiser's  art  as  much  as 
the  excellence  and  reliability  of  the  negress.  "  A  likely  young  Negroe 
Wench,  who  can  cook  and  wash  well,  and  do  all  Sorts  of  House-work; 
and  can  from  Experience,  be  recommended  both  for  her  Honesty  and 
Sobriety,  having  often  been  trusted  with  the  Keys  of  untold  Money,  and 
Liquors  of  various  Sorts,  none  of  which  she  will  taste.  She  is  no  Idler, 
Company-keeper  or  Gadder  abroad.  She  has  also  a  fine,  hearty  young 
Child,  not  quite  a  Year  old,  which  is  the  only  Reason  for  selling  her, 
because  her  Mistress  is  very  sickly,  and  can't  bear  the  Trouble  of  it." 
Pa.  Gazette,  Apr.  2,  1761. 


42  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

When  the  day's  work  was  over  .the  negroes  of  Penn 
sylvania  seem  to  have  had  time  of  their  own  which  they 
were  not  too  tired  to  enjoy.  Some  no  doubt  found 
recreation  in  their  masters'  homes,  gossipping,  singing, 
and  playing  on  rude  instruments."  Many  sought  each 
other's  company  and  congregated  together  after  night 
fall.  In  Philadelphia,  at  any  rate,  during  the  whole 
colonial  period,  crowds  of  negroes  infesting  the  streets 
after  dark  behaved  with  such  rough  and  boisterous  mer 
riment  that  they  were  a  nuisance  to  the  whole  com 
munity.18  At  times  negroes  were  given  days  of  their 
own.  They  were  allowed  to  go  from  one  place  to  an 
other,  and  were  often  permitted  to  visit  members  of 
their  families  in  other  households.18  Moreover,  holi 
days  were  not  grudged  them.  It  is  said  that  in  Philadel 
phia  at  the  time  of  fairs,  the  blacks  to  the  number  of  a 
thousand  of  both  sexes  used  to  go  to  "  Potter's  Field," 
and  there  amuse  themselves,  dancing,  singing,  and  re 
joicing,  in  native  barbaric  fashion.20 

If,  now,  from  material  comfort  we  turn  to  the  matter 
of  the  moral  and  intellectual  well-being  of  the  slaves, 
we  find  that  considering  the  time,  surprising  efforts 
were  made  to  help  them.  In  Pennsylvania  there  seems 

17  "  Thou  Knowest  Negro  Peters  Ingenuity  In  making  for  himself  and 
playing  on  a  fiddle  \vth  out  any  assistance  as  the  thing  in  them  is  Inno 
cent   and   diverting  and   may  keep  them   from  worse   Employmt   I   have 
to  Encourage  in  my  Service  promist  him  one  from  Engld  therefore  buy 
and  bring  a  good  Strong  well  made  Violin  wth  2  or  3  Sets  of  spare  Gut 
for  the  Suitable  Strings  get  somebody  of  skill  to  Chuse  and  by  it  "... 
MS.  Isaac  Norris,  Letter  Book,  1719,  p.  185. 

18  See  above,  pp.  32-34. 

19  "  Our  Negro  woman  got  leave  to  visit  her  children  in  Bucks  County." 
Christopher   Marshall's   Remembrancar,    D,  Jan.    7,    1776.      "This   after 
noon  came  home  our  Negro  woman  Dinah."     Ibid.,  D,  Jan.   15,  1776. 

20  Watson,  Annals,  I,  406.     Cf.  letter  of  William  Hamilton  of  Lancas 
ter:  "  Yesterday  (being  Negroes  Holiday)  I  took  a  ride  into  Maryland." 
Pa.  Mag.,  XXIX,  257. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  43 

never  to  have  been  opposition  to  improving  them.  Not 
much  was  done,  it  is  true,  and  perhaps  most  of  the  ne 
groes  were  not  reached  by  the  efforts  made.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  what  violent  hostility  mere 
efforts  aroused  in  some  other  places.81 

There  is  the  statement  of  a  careful  observer  that 
masters  desired  by  all  means  to  hinder  their  negroes 
from  being  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
and  to  let  them  live  on  in  pagan  darkness.  This  he  as 
cribes  to  a  fear  that  negroes  would  grow  too  proud  on 
seeing  themselves  upon  a  religious  level  with  their 
masters.22  Some  weight  must  be  attached  to  this  ac 
count,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  writer  was  roughly  ap 
plying  to  Pennsylvania  what  he  had  learned  in  other 
places,  for  against  his  assertion  much  specific  evidence 
can  be  arrayed. 

The  attention  of  the  Friends  was  directed  to  this  sub 
ject  very  early.  The  counsel  of  George  Fox  was  ex 
plicit.  Owners  were  to  give  their  slaves  religious  in 
struction  and  teach  them  the  Gospel.23  In  1693  the 
Keithian  Quakers  when  advising  that  masters  should 
hold  their  negroes  only  for  a  term  of  years,  enjoined 
that  during  such  time  they  should  give  these  negroes 
a  Christian  education.24  In  1700  Penn  appears  to  have 

21  For  the  treatment  of  William  Edmundson  when  he  tried  to  convert 
negroes  in  the  West  Indies,  cf.  his  Journal,  85;  Gough,  A  History  of  the 
People  Called  Quakers,  III,  61.  Cf.  MS.  Board  of  Trade  Journals,  III, 
191  (1680). 

23  Kalm,  Travels,  I,  397.  "  It's  obvious,  that  the  future  Welfare  of 
those  poor  Slaves  ...  is  generally  too  much  disregarded  by  those  who 
keep  them."  An  Epistle  of  Caution  and  Advice,  Concerning  the  Buying 
and  Keeping  of  Slaves  (1754),  5.  This,  however,  is  neglect  rather  than 
opposition. 

23  Fox's  Epistles,  in  Friend's  Library,  I,  79  (1679). 

24  "  An    Exhortation    and   Caution   to   Friends    Concerning   buying   or 
keeping  of  Negroes,"  in  Pa.  Mag.,  XIII,  267. 


44  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

been  able  to  get  a  Monthly  Meeting  established  for 
them,  but  of  the  meeting  no  record  has  come  down.25 
As  to  what  was  the  actual  practice  of  Friends  in  this 
matter  .their  early  records  give  meagre  information.  It 
seems  certain  that  negroes  were  not  allowed  to  partici 
pate  in  their  meetings,  though  sometimes  they  were 
taken  to  the  meeting-houses.26  It  is  probable  .that  in 
great  part  the  religious  work  of  the  Friends  among 
slaves  was  confined  to  godly  advice  and  reading.27  As  to 
the  amount  and  quality  of  such  advice,  the  well  known 
character  of  the  Friends  leaves  no  doubt. 

The  Moravians,  who  were  most  zealous  in  converting 
negroes,  did  not  reach  a  great  number  in  Pennsylvania, 
because  few  were  held  by  them;  nevertheless  they 
labored  successfully,  and  received  negroes  amongst 
them  on  terms  of  religious  equality.28  This  also  the 
Lutherans  did  to  some  extent,  negroes  being  baptized 
among  them.29  It  is  in  the  case  of  the  Episcopalians, 
however,  that  the  most  definite  knowledge  remains.  The 
records  of  Christ  Church  show  that  the  negroes  who 
were  baptized  made  no  inconsiderable  proportion  of  the 
total  number  baptized  in  the  congregation.  For  a 
period  of  more  than  seventy  years  such  baptisms  are  re 
corded,  and  are  sometimes  numerous.30  At  this  church, 

25  Proud,    History    of   Pennsylvania,    423 ;    Gordon,   History   of   Penn 
sylvania,  114. 

26  "  Several  "    (negroes)    "  are   brought   to   Meetings."      MS.    Minutes 
Radnor   Monthly   Meetings,    1763-1772,    p.    79    (1764).      "Most    of   those 
possessed  of  them  .  .  .  often  bring  them  to  our  Meetings."    Ibid.,   175 

(1767)- 

27  Cf.  MS.  Yearly  Meeting  Advices,  1682-1777,  "Negroes  or  Slaves." 

28  Cranz,  The  Ancient  and  Modern  History  of  the  Brethren  .  .  .  Unitas 
Fratrum,  600,  601;  Ogden,  An  Excursion  into  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth 
in  Pennsylvania,  89,  90;   i  Pa.  Arch.,  Ill,  75;  Pa.  Mag.,  XXIX,  363. 

29  Cf.  Bean,  History  of  Montgomery  County,  302. 

30  MS.  Records  of  Christ  Church,  Phila.,  I,  19,  43,  44,  46,  49,  132,  168, 
271,  273,  274,  276,  277,  280,  281,  282,  283,  288,  293,  306,  312,  314,  333, 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  45 

also,  there  was  a  minister  who  had  special  charge  of  the 
religious  instruction  of  negroes.81  It  is  possible  that 
something  may  have  been  accomplished  by  missionaries 
and  itinerant  exhorters.  This  was  certainly  so  when 
Whitefield  visited  Pennsylvania  in  1740.  Both  he  and 
his  friend  Seward  noted  with  peculiar  satisfaction  the 
results  which  they  had  attained.32  Work  of  some  value 
was  also  done  by  wandering  negro  exhorters,  who,  ap 
pearing  at  irregular  intervals,  assembled  little  groups 
and  preached  in  fields  and  orchards.33 

Something  was  also  accomplished  for  negroes  in  the 
maintenance  of  family  life.  In  1700  Penn,  anxious  to 
improve  their  moral  condition,  sent  to  the  Assembly 
a  bill  for  the  regulation  of  their  marriages,  but  much 
to  his  grief  this  was  defeated.84  In  the  absence  of  such 

337,  341,  342,  344,  352,  353,  359,  3?i,  379,  383,  388,  392,  397,  399,  416, 
440,  441.  Baptisms  were  very  frequent  in  the  years  1752  and  1753.  Very 
many  of  the  slaves  admitted  were  adults,  whereas  in  the  case  of  free 
negroes  at  the  same  period  most  of  the  baptisms  were  of  children. 

31  William.  Macclanechan,  writing  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in 
1760,  says:  "  On  my  Journey  to  New-England,  I  arrived  at  the  oppulent 
City   of   Philadelphia,  where   I   paid   my  Compliments   to   the   Rev'd  Dr. 
Jenney,  Minister  of  Christ's  Church  in  that  City,  and  to  the  Rev'd  Mr. 
Sturgeon,   Catechist   to   the  Negroes."     H.   W.    Smith,   Life  and   Corres 
pondence  of  the  Rev.  William  Smith,  I,  238. 

32  "  Many  negroes  came,  .  .  .  some  enquiring,  have  I  a  soul?  "     Gillies 
and  Seymour,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Character  of  .  .  .  Rev.  George 
Whitefield  (3d  ed.),  55-    "  I  believe  near  Fifty  Negroes  came  to  give  me 
Thanks,  under  God,  for  what  has  been  done  to  their  Souls  .  .  .  Some  of 
them  have  been  effectually  wrought  upon,  and  in  an  uncommon  Manner." 
A    Continuation    of    the    Reverend    Mr.    Whitefield's    Journal,    65,    66. 
"  Visited  a  Negroe  and  prayed  with  her,  and  found  her  Heart  touched  by 
Divine   Grace.      Praised  be   the   Lord,   methinks  one   Negroe  brought   to 
Jesus  Christ  is  peculiarly  sweet  to  my  Soul."     W.  Seward,  Journal  of  a 
Voyage  from  Savannah  to  Philadelphia,  etc.,  Apr.   18,  1740. 

33  "  This  afternoon  a  Negro  man  from  Cecil  County  maryland  preached 
in  orchard  opposite  to  ours,     there  was  Sundry  people,  they  said  he  spoke 
well  for  near  an  hour."     MS.  Ch.  Marshall's  Remembrancer,  E,  July  13, 
1779. 

34  "  Then    (the  pror   and  Gov.)    proposed  to   them  the  necessitie  of  a 
law  .  .  .  about  the  marriages  of  negroes."  Col.  Rec.,  I,  598,  606,  610;  Votes 


46  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

legislation  they  came  under  the  law  which  forbade 
servants  to  marry  during  their  servitude  without  the 
master's  consent.38  Doubtless  in  this  matter  .there  was 
much  of  the  laxity  which  is  inseparable  from  slavery, 
but  it  is  said  that  many  owners  allowed  their  slaves  to 
marry  in  accordance  with  inclination,  except  that  a 
master  would  .try  to  have  his  slaves  marry  among  them 
selves.36  The  marriage  ceremony  was  often  performed 
just  as  in  the  case  of  white  people,  the  records  of  Christ 
Church  containing  many  instances.37  The  children  of 
these  unions  were  taught  submission  to  their  parents, 
who  were  indulged,  it  is  said,  in  educating,  cherishing, 

and  Proceedings,  I,  120,  121;  Bettle,  "Notices  of  Negro  Slavery  as 
connected  with  Pennsylvania,"  in  Mem.  Hist.  Soc.  Pa.,  VI,  368;  Clark- 
son,  Life  of  Penn,  II,  80-82.  Clarkson  attributes  the  defeat  to  the  lessen 
ing  of  Quaker  influence,  the  lower  tone  of  the  later  immigrants,  and 
temporary  hostility  to  the  executive.  More  probably  the  bill  failed  be 
cause  stable  marriage  relations  have  always  been  found  incompatible 
with  the  ready  movement  and  transfer  of  slave  property;  and  because  at 
this  early  period  the  slaveholders  recognized  this  fact,  and  were  not 
yet  disposed  to  allow  their  slaves  to  marry. 

35  5*a*.    at   L.,    II,    22.        Cf.    Commonwealth   v.    Clements    (1814),    6 
Binney  210. 

36  St.  John  Crevecceur,  Letters,  221;  Kalm,  Travels,  I,  391.    Kalm  adds 
that  it  was  considered  an  advantage  to  have  negro  women,  since  other 
wise  the  offspring  belonged  to  another  master. 

37  MS.    Rec.   Christ  Church,  4239,  4317,   4361,  4370,   4371,  4373,   4376, 
4379.  438i,   4404,  4405;   MS.   Rec.   First   Reformed  Church,   4158,   4315; 
MS.   Rec.   St.   Michael's  and  Zion,    109.     Among  the  Friends  there  are 
very  few  records  of  such  marriages.     Cf.  however,  MS.  Journal  of  Joshua 
Brown,  5  2d  mo.,  1774:  ..."  I  rode  to  Philadelphia  .  .  .  and  Lodged  that 
Night  at  William  Browns  and  sth  day  of  the  moth  I  Spent  in  town  and 
Was  at  a  Negro  Wedding  in  the  Eving  Where  Several  per  Mett  and  had 
a  Setting  with  them  and  they  took  Each  other  and  the  Love  of  God  Seemd 
to  be  Extended  to  them  "...     A  negro  marriage  according  to  Friends' 
ceremony   is   recorded  in   MS.    Deed   Book   O,    234,   West  Chester.      Cf. 
Mittelberger,    Journey,    106,    "  The    blacks    are    likewise    married   in   the 
English  fashion."     There  must  have  been  much  laxity,  however,  for  only 
a  part  of  which  the  negroes  were  to  blame.     "  They  are  suffered,  with 
impunity,  to  cohabit  together,  without  being  married,  and  to  part,  when 
solemnly  engaged  to  one  another  as  man  and  wife  "...  Benezet,  Some 
Historical  Account  of  Guinea,  134. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  47 

and  chastising  them.87*  Stable  family  life  among  the 
slaves  was  made  possible  by  the  conditions  of  slavery 
in  Pennsylvania,  there  being  no  active  interchange  of 
negroes.  When  they  were  bought  or  sold  families  were 
kept  together  as  much  as  possible.38 

In  one  matter  connected  with  religious  observances 
race  prejudice  was  shown :  negroes  were  not  as  a  rule 
buried  in  the  cemeteries  of  white  people.39  In  some  of 
the  Friends'  records  and  elsewhere  there  is  definite  pro 
hibition.40  They  were  often  buried  in  their  masters' 
orchards,  or  on  the  edge  of  woodlands.  The  Philadel 
phia  negroes  were  buried  in  a  particular  place  outside 
the  city.41 

Under  the  kindly  treatment  accorded  them  the  negroes 
of  colonial  Pennsylvania  for  the  most  part  behaved 
fairly  well.  It  is  true  that  there  is  evidence  that  crime 
among  them  assumed  grave  proportions  at  times,  while 
the  records  of  the  special  courts  and  items  in  the  news 
papers  show  that  there  occurred  murder,  poisoning, 
arson,  burglary,  and  rape.42  In  addition  there  was  fre- 

87  •  St.  John  Crevecceur,  Letters,  222. 

38  "  Acco*  of  Negroes  Dr.  ...  for  my  Negroe  Cuffee  and  his  Wife  Rose 
and  their  Daughter  Jenny  bo*  of  Wm  Banloft  .  .  .  76/3/10."    MS.  James 
Logan's  Account  Book,  90  (1714).  "  Wanted,  Four  or  Five  Negro  Men  .  .  . 
if  they  have  families,  wives,  or  children,  all  will  be  purchased  together." 
Pa,  Packet,  Aug.  22,  1778.  Cf.  also  Mercury,  June  4,  1724;  June  21,  1739; 
Independent  Gazeteer,  July   14,   1792.     Cf.  however,  Benezet,  Some  His 
torical   Account    of    Guinea,    136;    Crawford,    Observations   upon    Negro 
Slavery  (1784),  23,  24;  Pa.  Packet,  Jan.  i,  1780. 

39  This  was  not  always  the  case.     The  MS.    Rec.  of  Sandy  Bank  Ceme 
tery,  Delaware  Co.,  contains  the  names  of  two  negroes. 

40  MS.   Minutes   Middletown   Monthly  Meeting,  2d  Book  A,    171,   558, 
559;  Pa.   Mag.,  VIII,  419;    Isaac  Comly,  "  Sketches  of  the   History   of 
Byberry,"  in  Mem.  Hist.  Soc.  Pa.,  II,  194.     There  were  exceptions,  how 
ever.     Cf.  MS.  Bk.  of  Rec.  Merion  Meeting  Grave  Yard. 

41  Bean,    Hist.    Montgomery    Co.,    302;    Martin,    Hist    of   Chester,    80; 
Kalm,  Travels,  I,  44;  Pa.  Gazette,  Nov.  15,  1775. 

a  Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  59;  Col.  Rec.,  II,  18;  i  Pa.  Arch.  XI,  667;  Mercury, 
Apr.  12,  1739;  Phila.  Staaisbote,  Jan.  16,  1764;  Pa.  Gazette,  Nov.  12, 


48  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

quent  complaint  about  tumultuous  assembling  and  bois 
terous  conduct,  and  there  was  undoubtedly  much  pilfer 
ing.43  Moreover  the  patience  of  many  indulgent  mas 
ters  was  tried  by  the  shiftless  behavior  and  insolent 
bearing  of  their  slaves.44  Yet  the  graver  crimes  stand 
out  in  isolation  rather  than  in  mass ;  and  it  is  too  much 
to  expect  an  entire  absence  of  the  lesser  ones.  The  white 
people  do  not  seem  to  have  regarded  their  negroes  as 
dangerous.45  Almost  never  were  there  efforts  for  severe 
repression,  and  a  slave  insurrection  seems  hardly  to 
have  been  thought  of.48  There  are  no  statistics  what 
ever  on  which  to  base  an  estimate,  but  judging  from  the 
relative  frequency  of  notices  it  seems  probable  that  crime 
among  the  negroes  of  Pennsylvania  during  the  slavery 
period — no  doubt  because  they  were  under  better  con 
trol — was  less  than  at  any  period  thereafter. 

But  there  was  a  misdemeanor  of  another  kind :  negro 

1761.  For  an  instance  of  a  slave  killing  his  master,  cf.  MS.  Supreme 
Court  Papers,  XXI,  3546.  This  was  very  rare.  Pa.  Mag.,  XIII,  449. 
According  to  Judge  Bradford's  statement  arson  was  "  the  crime  of  slaves 
and  children."  Journal  of  Senate  of  Pa.,  1792-1793,  p.  52;  Col.  Rec.,  IV, 
243,  244,  259;  XII,  377;  MS.  Miscellaneous  Papers,  Feb.  25,  1780.  Cf. 
especially  MS.  Records  of  Special  Courts  for  the  Trial  of  Negroes;  Col. 
Rec.,  IX,  648;  MS.  .Streper  Papers,  55. 

43  In  1737  the  Council  spoke  of  the  "  insolent  Behaviour  of  the  Negroes 
in  and  about  the  city,  which  has  of  late  been  so  much  taken  notice  of  "... 
Col.   Rec.,   IV,   244;    Votes  and   Proceedings,   IV,    171.      As  to   pilfering 
Franklin  remarked  that  almost  every  slave  was  by  nature  a  thief.     Works 
(ed.   Sparks),  II,  315. 

44  The  following  has  not  lost  all  significance.     "  I  was  much  Disturbed 
after  I  came  our  girl  Poll  driving  her  same  stroke  of  Impudence  as  when 
she  was  in  Philad8  and  her  mistress  so  hood-winked  by  her  as  not  to  see 
it  which  gave  me  much  uneasiness  and  which  I  am  determined  not  to  put 
up  with"  .  .  .  Ch.  Marshall,  Remembrancer,  D,  Aug.  4,   1777.     Cf.  also 
Remarks  on  the  Quaker  Unmasked  (1764). 

45  As   shown   by   the   very    careless    enforcement   of   the   special   regu 
lations. 

16  Except  immediately  following  the  negro  "  insurrection  "  in  New 
York  in  1712.  Cf.  Stat.  at  L.,  II,  433;  i  Pa.  Arch.,  IV,  792;  2  Pa.  Arch., 
XV,  368. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  49 

slaves  frequently  ran  away.  Fugitives  are  mentioned 
from  the  first/7  and  there  is  hardly  a  copy  of  any  of  the 
old  papers  but  has  an  advertisement  for  some  negro  at 
large.49  These  notices  sometimes  advise  that  the  slave 
has  stolen  from  his  master;  often  that  he  has  a  pass, 
and  is  pretending  to  be  a  free  negro ;  and  occasionally 
that  a  free  negro  is  suspected  of  harboring  him." 

The  law  against  harboring  was  severe  and  was  strictly 
enforced.  Anyone  might  take  up  a  suspicious  negro; 
while  whoever  returned  a  runaway  to  his  master  was  by 
law  entitled  to  receive  five  shillings  and  expenses.  It 
was  always  the  duty  of  the  local  authorities  to  appre 
hend  suspects.  When  this  occurred  the  procedure  was 
to  lodge  the  negro  in  jail,  and  advertise  for  the  master, 
who  might  come,  and  after  proving  title  and  paying 
costs,  take  him  away.  Otherwise  the  negro  was  sold 

47  "  A  negro  man  and  a  White  Woman  servant  being  taken  up  ...  and 
brought  before  John  Simcocke  Justice  in  Commission  for  runaways  Who 
upon  Examination  finding  they  had  noe  lawful  Passe  Comitted  them  to 
Prison"  .  .  .     MS.  Court  Rec.  Penna.  and  Chester  Co.,   1681-88,  p.  75; 
MS.  New  Castle  Ct.  Rec.,  Liber  A,  158  (1677);  MS.  Minutes  Ct.  Quarter 
Sess.   Bucks   Co.,    1684-1730,   p.    138    (1690);   MS.   Minutes   Chester   Co. 
Courts,  1681-1697,  p.  222   (1694-1695).    For  the  continual  going  away  of 
Christopher  Marshall's  "  Girl  Poll,"  see  his  Remembrancer,  vol.  D. 

48  The  following  is  not  only  typical,  but  is  very  interesting  on  its  own 
account,   since   Abraham   Lincoln  was  a  descendant   of  the   family  men 
tioned.     "  RUN  away  on  the  i3th  of  September  last  from  Abraham  Lin 
coln  of  Springfield  in  the  County  of  Chester,  a  Negro  Man  named  Jack, 
about  30  Years  of  Age,  low  Stature,  speaks  little  or  no  English,  has  a 
Scar  by  the  Corner  of  one  Eye,  in  the  Form  of  a  V,  his  Teeth  notched, 
and  the  Top  of  one  on  his  Fore  Teeth  broke;  He  had  on  when  he  went 
away  an  old  Hat,  a  grey  Jacket  partly  like  a  Sailor's  Jacket.     Whoever 
secures  the   said  Negro,  and  brings  him  to  his  Master,  or  to  Mordccai 
Lincoln  .  .  .  shall  have  Twenty  Shillings  Reward  and  reasonable  Charges." 
Pa.  Gazette,  Oct.  15,  1730. 

49  Mercury,  Apr.   18,  1723;  July  n,  1723;   Gazette,  May  3,   1744;  Feb. 
22,   1775;  July  28,   1779;  Jan.   17,   1782;  Packet,  Oct.   13,   1778;  Aug.  3, 
1779.    One  negro  indentured  himself  to  a  currier.     Gazette,  Aug.  30,  1775- 
Such  negroes  the  community  was  warned  not  to  employ.     Backet,  Feb. 
27,  1779. 


50  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

for  a  short  time  to  satisfy  jail  fees,  advertised  again,  and 
finally  either  set  at  liberty  or  disposed  of  as  pleased  the 
local  court.80 

This  fleeing  from  service  on  the  part  of  negro  slaves, 
while  varying  somewhat  in  frequency,  was  fairly  con 
stant  during  the  whole  slavery  period,  increasing  as  the 
number  of  slaves  grew  larger.  During  the  British  oc 
cupation  of  Philadelphia,  however,  it  assumed  such 
enormous  proportions  that  the  number  of  negroes  held 
there  was  permanently  lowered.61  Notwithstanding, 
then,  the  kindly  treatment  they  received,  slaves  in  Penn 
sylvania  ran  away.  Nevertheless  it  is  significant  that 
during  the  same  period  white  servants  ran  away  more 
than  twice  as  often.52 

Many  traits  of  daily  life  and  marks  of  personal  ap 
pearance  which  no  historian  has  described,  are  pre 
served  in  the  advertisements  of  the  daily  papers.  Al 
most  every  negro  seems  to  have  had  the  smallpox.  To 
have  done  with  this  and  the  measles  was  justly  con 
sidered  an  enhancement  in  value.  Some  of  the  negroes 
kidnapped  from  Africa  still  bore  traces  of  their  savage 
ancestry.  Not  a  few  spoke  several  languages.  Gener- 

50  The  penalty  was  thirty  shillings  for  every  day.  Stat.  at  L.,  IV, 
64  (1725-1726).  There  was  need  for  regulation  from  the  first.  Cf.  Col. 
Rec.,  I,  117.  An  advertisement  from  Reading  in  Gazette,  July  31,  1776, 
explains  the  procedure  when  suspects  were  held  in  jail.  Such  advertise 
ments  recur  frequently.  Cf.  Mercury,  Aug.  13,  1730  (third  notice); 
Gazette,  Dec.  27,  1774;  Packet,  Mar.  23,  1779. 

81  For  negroes  carried  off  or  who  ran  away  at  this  time  cf.  MS.  Mis 
cellaneous  Papers,  Sept.  i,  1778;  Nov.  19,  1778;  Aug.  20,  1779;  and 
others.  Numbers  of  strange  negroes  were  reported  to  be  wandering 
around  in  Northumberland  County.  Ibid.,  Aug.  29,  1780.  In  1732  the 
Six  Nations  had  been  asked  not  to  harbor  runaway  negroes,  since  they 
were  "  the  Support  and  Livelihood  of  their  Masters,  and  gett  them  their 
Bread."  4  Pa.  Arch.,  II,  657,  658. 

M  So  I  judge  from  statistics  which  I  have  compiled  from  the  adver 
tisements  in  the  newspapers. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  51 

ally  they  were  fond  of  gay  dress.  Some  carried  riddles 
when  they  ran  away.  One  had  made  considerable 
money  by  playing.  Many  little  hints  as  to  character  ap 
pear.  Thus  Mona  is  full  of  flattery.  Cuff  Dix  is  fond 
of  liquor.  James  chews  abundance  of  tobacco.  Stephen 
has  a  "  sower  countenance  " ;  Harry,  "  meek  counten 
ance  " ;  Rachel,  "  remarkable  austere  countenance  " ; 
Dick  is  "  much  bandy  legged  " ;  Violet,  "  pretty,  lusty, 
and  fat."  A  likely  negro  wench  is  sold  because  of  her 
breeding  fast.  One  negro  says  that  he  has  been  a 
preacher  among  the  Indians.  Two  others  fought  a  duel 
with  pistols.  A  hundred  years  has  involved  no  great 
change  in  character.53 

Finally,  on  the  basis  of  information  drawn  from  rare 
and  miscellaneous  sources  it  becomes  apparent  that  in 
slavery  times  there  was  more  kindliness  and  intimacy 
between  the  races  than  existed  afterwards.  In  those 
days  many  slaves  were  treated  as  if  part  of  the  master's 
family :  when  sick  they  were  nursed  and  cared  for ;  when 
too  old  to  work  they  were  provided  for ;  and  some  were 
remembered  in  the  master's  will."  Negroes  did  run 

63  Mercury,  Apr.  18,  1723;  Packet,  July  16,  1778;  Gazette,  June  12, 
1740;  Feb.  4,  1775;  Jan.  3,  1776;  July  2,  1781;  Gazette,  Nov.  17,  1748; 
Feb.  21,  1775.  "  '  Old  Dabbo  '  an  African  Negro  .  .  .  call'd  here  for  some 
victuals  .  .  .  He  had  three  gashes  on  each  cheek  made  by  his  mother  when 
he  was  a  child  .  .  .  His  conversation  is  scarcely  intelligible  ";  MS.  Diary 
of  Joel  Swayne,  1823-1833,  Mar.  27,  1828.  Mercury,  Aug.  6,  1730; 
Packet,  Aug.  26,  1779;  Gazette,  July  31,  1739-1740;  Mercury,  June  24, 
1725;  Packet,  June  22,  1789;  Packet,  Dec.  31,  1778;  Gazette,  Sept.  10, 
1741;  July  21,  1779;  Sept.  ii,  1746;  Oct.  16,  1776;  July  30,  1747;  May 
14,  1747;  Oct.  22,  1747;  Aug.  30,  1775;  Mar.  22,  1747-1748;  July  24, 
1776;  Apr.  23,  1761;  July  5,  1775;  Packet,  Jan.  26,  1779. 

54  "  My  Dear  Companion  .  .  .  has  really  her  hands  full,  Cow  to  milk, 
breakfast  to  get,  her  Negro  woman  to  bath,  give  medicine,  Cap  up  with 
flannels,  as  She  is  allways  Sure  to  be  poorly  when  the  weather  is  cold, 
Snowy  and  Slabby.  its  then  She  gives  her  Mistriss  a  deal  of  fatigue  and 
trouble  in  attending  on  her."  Ch.  Marshall,  Remembrancer,  E,  Mar.  25, 
1779.  "  To  Israel  Taylor  p  order  of  the  Com1  for  Cureing  negro  Jack 


52  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

away,  and  numbers  of  them  desired  .to  be  free,  but  when 
manumission  came  not  a  few  of  them  preferred  to  stay 
with  their  former  owners.  It  was  the  opinion  of  an  ad 
vocate  of  emancipation  that  they  were  better  off  as 
slaves  than  they  could  possibly  be  as  freemen.55 

Such  was  slavery  in  Pennsylvania.  If  on  the  one 
hand  there  was  the  chance  of  families  being  sold  apart ; 
if  there  was  seen  the  cargo,  the  slave-drove,  the  auction 
sale;  it  must  be  remembered  that  such  things  are  in 
separable  from  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  that  on  the 
other  hand  they  were  rare,  and  not  to  be  weighed  against 
the  positive  comfort  and  well-being  of  which  there  is 
such  abundant  proof.  If  ever  it  be  possible  not  to  con 
demn  modern  slavery,  it  might  seem  that  slavery  as  it 
existed  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  eighteenth  century  was 
a  good,  probably  for  the  masters,  certainly  for  the 

legg  .  .  .  4/10  To  Roger  Parke  for  Cureing  negro  sam  .  .  .  /9/9."  MS. 
William  Penn's  Account  Book,  1690-1693,  p.  8.  A  bill  for  £10  10  sh. 
4d.  was  rendered  to  Thomas  Penn  for  nursing  and  burying  his  negro 
Sam.  Some  of  the  items  are  very  humorous.  MS.  Penn  Papers,  Ac 
counts  (unbound),  Feb.  19,  1741.  The  bill  for  Thomas  Penn's  negroes, 
Hagar,  Diana,  and  Susy,  for  the  years  1773  and  1774,  amounted  to  £5 
5  sh.  Penn-Physick  MSS.,  IV,  253.  An  item  in  a  bill  rendered  to  Mrs. 
Margaretta  Frame  is:  "  To  bleeding  her  Negro  man  Sussex  .  .  .  /2/6." 
MS.  Penn  Papers,  Accounts  (unbound),  June  5, 1742.  St.  John  Crevecceur, 
Letters,  221.  Masters  were  compelled  by  law  to  support  their  old  slaves 
who  would  otherwise  have  become  charges  on  the  community.  Cf.  Stat. 
at  L.,  X,  70;  Laws  of  Pa.,  1803,  p.  103;  1835-1836,  pp.  546,  547.  In  very 
many  cases,  however,  old  negroes  were  maintained  comfortably  until 
death  in  the  families  where  they  had  served.  Cf.  MS.  Phila.  Wills,  X,  94 
(1794).  There  are  numerous  instances  of  negroes  receiving  property  by 
their  master's  wills.  Cf.  West  Chester  Will  Files,  no.  3759  (1785).  For  the 
darker  side  cf.  Lay,  All  Slave-Keepers  Apostates,  93. 

55  "  Many  of  those  whom  the  good  Quakers  have  emancipated  have 
received  the  great  benefit  with  tears  in  their  eyes,  and  have  never  quitted, 
though  free,  their  former  masters  and  benefactors."  St.  John  Crevecceur, 
Letters,  222;  Pa.  Mag.,  XVIII,  372,  3735  Buck,  MS.  History  of  Bucks 
Co.,  marginal  note  of  author  in  his  scrapbook.  For  the  superiority  of 
slavery  cf.  J.  Harriot,  Struggles  through  Life,  etc.,  II,  409.  Also  Wat 
son,  Annals,  II,  265. 


SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  ASPECTS  53 

slaves.68  The  fact  is  that  it  existed  in  such  mitigated 
form  that  it  was  impossible  for  it  to  be  perpetuated. 
Whenever  men  can  treat  their  slaves  as  men  in  Pennsyl 
vania  treated  them,  they  are  living  in  a  moral  atmos 
phere  inconsistent  with  the  holding  of  slaves.  Nothing 
can  then  preserve  slavery  but  paramount  economic 
needs.  In  Pennsylvania,  since  such  needs  were  not 
paramount,  slavery  was  doomed. 

56  It  has  been  suggested  that  it  was  milder  than  the  system  under 
which  redemptioners  were  held,  and  that  hence  "  Quaker  scruples  against 
slavery  were  either  misplaced  or  insincere."  C.  A.  Herrick,  "  Indentured 
Labor  in  Pennsylvania,"  (MS.  thesis,  University  of  Pa.),  89.  An  exam 
ination  of  the  Quaker  records  would  have  shown  that  the  last  part  of 
this  statement  is  not  true.  See  below,  chaps.  IV,  V. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  BREAKING  UP  OF  SLAVERY — MANUMISSION. 

IN  Pennsylvania  the  disintegration  of  slavery  began  as 
soon  as  slavery  was  established,  for  there  were  free  ne 
groes  in  the  colony  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century.1  Manumission  may  have  taken  place  earlier 
than  this,  for  in  1682  an  owner  made  definite  promise  of 
freedom  to  his  negro.2  The  first  indisputable  case  now 
known,  however,  occurred  in  1701,  when  a  certain  Lydia 
Wade  living  in  Chester  County  freed  her  slaves  by 
testament.3  In  the  same  year  William  Penn  on  his  re 
turn  to  England  liberated  his  blacks  likewise.4  Judging 
from  the  casual  and  unexpected  references  to  free  ne- 

1  It  is  of  course  possible  that  some  of  these  negroes  had  been  servants, 
and  that  their  period  of  service  was  over. 

-  "  Where  As  William  Clark  did  buy  ...  An  negor  man  Called  and 
knowen  by  the  name  of  black  Will  for  and  during  his  natrill  Life;  never 
the  Less  the  said  William  Clark  doe  for  the  Incourigment  of  the  sd 
neagor  servant  hereby  promise  Covenant  and  Agree;  that  if  the  said 
Black  Will  doe  well  and  Truely  sarve  the  said  William  Clark  .  .  .  five 
years  .  .  .  then  the  said  Black  Will  shall  be  Clear  and  free  of  and  from 
Any  further  or  Longer  Sarvicetime  or  Slavery  ...  as  wittnes  my  hand  this 
Thirteenth  day  of  ...  June  Anno;  Din;  1682."  MS.  Ancient  Rec.  of 
Sussex  Co.,  1681-1709,  p.  116. 

8  "  My  will  is  that  my  negroes  John  and  Jane  his  wife  shall  be  set 
free  one  month  after  my  decease."  Ashmead,  History  of  Delaware 
County,  203. 

4  "  I  give  to  ...  my  blacks  their  freedom  as  is  under  my  hand  already  " 
.  .  .  MS.  Will  of  William  Penn,  Newcastle  on  'Delaware,  3oth  8br,  1701. 
This  will,  which  was  left  with  James  Logan,  was  not  carried  out.  Penn's 
last  will  contains  no  mention  of  his  negroes.  He  frequently  mentions 
them  elsewhere.  Cf.  MS.  Letters  and  Papers  of  William  Penn  (Dreer), 
29  (1689),  35  (1690);  Pa.  Mag.,  XXXIII,  316  (1690);  MS.  Logan  Papers. 
II,  98  (1703).  Cf.  also  Penn.  MSS.,  Official  Correspondence,  97. 

54 


MANUMISSION  55 

groes  which  come  to  light  from  time  to  time,  it  seems 
probable  that  other  masters  also  bestowed  freedom.  At 
any  rate  the  status  of  the  free  negro  had  come  to  be  rec 
ognized  about  this  time  as  one  to  be  protected  by  law,  for 
when  in  1703  Antonio  Garcia,  a  Spanish  mulatto,  was 
brought  to  Philadelphia  as  a  slave,  he  appealed  to  the 
provincial  Council,  and  presently  was  set  at  liberty.8  In 
1717  the  records  of  Christ  Church  mention  Jane,  a  free 
negress,  who  was  baptized  there  with  her  daughter.6 

This  freeing  of  negroes  at  so  early  a  time  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  colony  is  sufficiently  remarkable.  It  might  be 
expected  that  manumission  would  have  been  rare ;  and, 
indeed,  the  records  are  very  few  at  first.  Nevertheless 
a  law  passed  in  1725-1726  would  indicate  that  the  prac 
tice  was  by  no  means  unusual.7 

It  is  not  possible  to  say  what  was  the  immediate  cause 
of  the  passing  of  that  part  of  the  act  which  refers  to 
manumission.  It  may  have  been  the  growth  of  a  class 
of  black  freemen,  or  it  may  have  been  the  desire  to  check 
manumission ;  *  but  it  was  probably  neither  of  these 
things  so  much  as  it  was  the  practice  of  masters  who  set 
free  their  infirm  slaves  when  the  labor  of  those  slaves 
was  no  longer  remunerative.8  This  practice  together 
with  the  usual  shiftlessness  of  most  of  the  freedmen 
makes  the  resulting  legislation  intelligible  enough.  It 

•  Col.  Rec.,  II,  120. 

8  Jane  "  a  free  negro  woman  "...     MS.  Rec.  Christ  Church,  46. 

1  "  Whereas  'tis  found  by  experience  that  free  negroes  are  an  idle, 
slothful  people  and  often  prove  burdensome  to  the  neighborhood  and  af 
ford  ill  examples  to  other  negroes  "...  "  An  Act  for  the  better  regulating 
of  Negroes  in  this  Province."  Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  61. 

8  "  Our  Ancestors  .  .  .  for  a  long  time  deemed  it  policy  to  obstruct  the 
emancipation  of  Slaves  and  affected  to  consider  a  free  Negro  as  a  useless 
if  not  a  dangerous  being  "...  Letter  of  W.  Rawle  (1787),  in  MS.  Rec. 
Pa.  Soc.  Abol.  Slavery. 

8  Votes  and  Proceedings,  II,  336,  337. 


56  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

provided  that  thereafter  if  any  master  purposed  to  set 
his  negro  free,  he  should  obligate  himself  at  the  county 
court  to  secure  the  locality  in  which  the  negro  might 
reside  from  any  expense  occasioned  by  the  sickness  of 
the  negro  or  by  his  inability  to  support  himself.  If  a 
negro  received  liberty  by  will,  recognizance  should  be 
entered  into  by  the  executor  immediately.  Without  this 
no  negro  was  to  be  deemed  free.  The  security  was 
fixed  at  thirty  pounds.10 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  full  purpose  of  this  stat 
ute,  there  can  be  no  question  that  it  did  check  manumis 
sion  to  a  certain  extent.  A  standing  obligation  of  thirty 
pounds,  which  might  .at  any  moment  become  an  un 
pleasant  reality,  when  added  to  the  other  sacrifices  which 
freeing  a  slave  entailed,  was  probably  sufficient  to  dis 
courage  many  who  possessed  mildly  good  intentions. 
Several  times  it  was  protested  that  the  amount  was  so 
excessive  as  to  check  the  beneficence  of  owners ; u  and 
on  one  occasion  it  was  computed  that  the  thirty  pounds 
required  did  not  really  suffice  to  support  such  negroes  as 
became  charges,  but  that  a  different  method  and  a 
smaller  sum  would  have  secured  better  results.12  The 

10  "  An   Act  for  the  better  regulating  of   Negroes  in  this   Province." 
Stat.  at  L.,  IV,  61    (1725-1726). 

11  "  This  is  however  very  expensive  for  they  are  obliged  to  make  a  pro 
vision  for  the  Negro  thus  set  at  liberty,  to  afford  him  subsistence  when  he 
is  grown  old,  that  he  may  not  be  driven  by  necessity  to  wicked  actions, 
or  that  he  may  be  at  anybody's  charge,  for  these  free  Negroes  become 
very  lazy  and  indolent  afterwards."     Kalm,   Travels,  I,  394   (1748). 

12  Cf.    Votes  and  Proceedings,  1767-1776,  p.   30.     The  author  of  Brief 
Considerations  on  Slavery,  and  the  Expediency  of  Its  Abolition   (1773) 
argued  that  the  public  derived  benefit  from  the  labor  of  adult  free  ne 
groes,  and  that  the  public  should  pay  the  surety  required.     By  an  elab 
orate  calculation  he  endeavored  to  prove  that  a  sum  of  about  five  shillings 
deposited  at  interest  by  the  community  each  year  of  the  negro's  life  after 
he  was  twenty-one,  would  amply  suffice   for  all  requirements.     Pp.  8-14 
of  the   second  part,   entitled  "  An  Account   Stated  on   the   Manumission 


MANUMISSION  57 

burden  to  owners  was  no  doubt  felt  very  grievously  dur 
ing  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  man 
umission  was  going  on  so  actively,  and  it  is  known  that 
the  Assembly  was  asked  to  give  relief.13  Nevertheless 
nothing  was  done  until  1780  when  the  abolition  act 
swept  from  the  statute-books  all  previous  legislation 
about  the  negro,  slave  as  well  as  free.14 

In  spite  of  the  obstacles  created  by  the  statute  of 
1725-1726,  the  freeing  of  negroes  continued.  In  1731 
John  Baldwin  of  Chester  ordered  in  his  will  that  his 
negress  be  freed  one  year  after  his  decease.  Two  years 
later  Ralph  Sandiford  is  said  to  have  given  liberty  to  all 
of  his  slaves.  In  1742  Judge  Langhorne  in  Bucks 
County  devised  freedom  to  all  of  his  negroes,  between 
thirty  and  forty  in  number.  In  1744  by  the  will  of  John 
Knowles  of  Oxford,  negro  James  was  to  be  made  free 
on  condition  that  he  gave  security  to  the  executors  to 
pay  the  thirty  pounds  if  required.  Somewhat  before 
this  time  John  Harris,  the  founder  of  Harrisburg,  set 
free  the  faithful  negro  Hercules,  who  had  saved  his 
life  from  the  Indians.  In  1746  Samuel  Blunson  manu 
mitted  his  slaves  at  Columbia.  During  this  period 
negroes  were  occasionally  sent  to  the  Moravians,  who 
gave  them  religious  training,  baptized  them,  and  after 
a  time  set  them  at  liberty.  During  the  following  years 
the  records  of  some  of  the  churches  refer  again  and 
again  to  free  negroes  who  were  married  in  them,  bap- 


of  Slaves."  He  says  "  As  the  laws  stand  at  present  in  several  of  our 
northern  governments,  the  act  of  manumission  is  clogged  with  difficulties 
that  almost  amount  to  a  prohibition."  Ibid.,  1 1. 

13  Votes  and  Proceedings,  1767-1776,  p.  696. 

14  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  72. 


58  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

tized  in  them,  or  who  brought  their  children  to  them  to 
be  baptized.15  At  an  early  date  there  was  a  sufficient 
number  of  free  black  people  in  Pennsylvania  to  attract 
the  attention  of  philanthropists;  and  it  is  known  that 
Whitefield  as  early  as  1744  took  up  a  tract  of  land 
partly  with  the  intention  of  making  a  settlement  of  free 
negroes.16  Up  to  this  time,  however,  manumission  prob 
ably  went  on  in  a  desultory  manner,  hampered  by  the 
large  security  required,  and  practised  only  by  the  most 
ardent  believers  in  human  liberty.  The  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  marked  a  great  turning-point. 

The  southeastern  part  of  Pennsylvania,  in  which  most 
of  the  negroes  were  located,  was  peopled  largely  by 
Quakers,  who  in  many  localities  were  the  principal  slave 
owners,  and  who  at  different  periods  during  the  eigh 
teenth  century  probably  held  from  a  half  to  a  third  of  all 
the  slaves  in  the  colony.  But  they  were  never  able  to 
reconcile  this  practice  entirely  with  their  religious  be 
lief  and  from  the  very  beginning  it  encountered  strong 
opposition.  As  this  opposition  is  really  part  of  the  his 
tory  of  abolition  in  Pennsylvania  it  will  be  treated  at 
length  in  the  following  chapter.  Here  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  from  1688  a  long  warfare  was  carried  on,  for 
the  most  part  by  zealous  reformers  who  gradually  won 
adherents,  until  about  1750  the  Friends'  meetings  de 
clared  against  slavery,  and  the  members  who  were  not 
slave-owners  undertook  to  persuade  those  who  still 
owned  negroes  to  give  them  up. 

1B  Martin,  History  of  Chester,  480;  Watson,  Annals,  II,  265;  Pa.  Mag., 
VII,  82;  Davis,  History  of  Bucks  County,  798;  MS.  in  Miscellaneous 
Collection,  Box  10,  Negroes;  Morgan,  Annals  of  Harrisburg,  n;  Smed- 
ley,  History  of  the  Underground  Railroad  in  Chester,  etc.,  27;  Pa.  Mag., 
XII,  188;  XXIX,  363,  365;  MS.  Rec.  Christ  Church,  46,  352,  356,  379, 
400,  403,  404,  440,  441,  455,  475»  4I26,  4330,  4356;  MS.  Rec.  First  Re 
formed  Church,  4126,  4248;  MS.  Rec.  St.  Michael's  and  Zion,  97. 

16    Cf.  Conyngham's  "  Historical  Notes,"  in  Mem.  Hist.  Soc.  Pa.,  I,  338. 


MANUMISSION  59 

The  feeling  among  some  of  the  Friends  was  ex 
traordinary  at  this  time.  They  went  from  one  slave 
holder  to  another  expostulating,  persuading,  entreating. 
It  was  then  that  the  saintly  John  Woolman  did  his  work ; 
but  he  was  only  the  most  distinguished  among  many 
others.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  read  over  the  records  of 
any  Friends'  meeting  for  the  next  thirty  years  without 
finding  numerous  references  to  work  of  this  character ; 
and  in  more  than  one  journal  of  the  period  mention  is 
made  of  the  obstacles  encountered  and  the  expedients 
employed." 

The  results  of  their  efforts  were  far-reaching.  Many 
Friends  who  would  have  scrupled  to  buy  more  slaves, 
and  who  were  convinced  that  slave-holding  was  an  evil, 
yet  retained  such  slaves  as  they  had,  through  motives  of 
expediency,  and  also  because  they  believed  that  negroes 
held  in  mild  bondage  were  better  off  than  when  free. 
Against  this  temporizing  policy  the  reformers  fought 
hard,  and  aided  by  the  decision  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
that  slaveholders  should  no  longer  participate  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Society,  carried  forward  their  work  with 
such  success  that  within  one  more  generation  slavery 
among  the  Friends  in  Pennsylvania  had  passed  away. 

During  the  period,  then,  from  1750  to  1780  manumis 
sion  among  the  Friends  became  very  frequent.  Many 
slaves  were  set  free  outright,  their  masters  assuming 
the  liability  required  by  law.  Others  were  manumitted 
on  condition  that  they  would  not  become  chargeable.18 
Some  owners  gave  promise  of  freedom  at  the  end  of  a 
certain  number  of  years,  considering  the  service  during 
those  years  an  equivalent  for  the  financial  obligation 

17  See  below,  p.  74. 

18  MS.  Miscellaneous  Papers,   1684-1847,  Chester  Co.,  101   (1764). 


60  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

which  at  the  end  they  would  have  to  assume.19  Often 
the  negro  was  given  his  liberty  on  condition  that  at  a 
future  time  he  would  pay  to  the  master  his  purchase 
price.20  In  1751  a  writer  said  that  numerous  negroes  had 
gained  conditional  freedom,  and  were  wandering  around 
the  country  in  search  of  employment  so  as  to  pay  their 
owners.  The  magistrates  of  Philadelphia  complained  of 
this  as  a  nuisance.21 

Just  how  many  slaves  gained  their  freedom  during 
this  period  it  is  impossible  to  say.  The  church  records 
mention  them  again  and  again ;  and  they  become,  what 
they  had  not  been  before,  the  occasion  of  frequent  notice 
and  serious  speculation.22  Other  people  began  now  to 
follow  the  Friends'  example,23  and  the  belief  in  abstract 
principles  of  freedom  aroused  by  the  Revolutionary 
struggle  gave  further  impetus  to  the  movement.24  In 
every  quarter,  now,  manumissions  were  constantly  be- 

19  They  were  generally  held  longer  than  apprentices  or  white  servants — 
until  twenty-eight  or  thirty  years  of  age,  but  many  of  the  Friends  pro 
tested  against  this.  MS.  Diary  of  Richard  Barnard,  24  5  mo.,  1782;  MS. 
Minutes  Exeter  Monthly  Meeting,  Book  B,  354  (1779). 

-°  "  I  do  hereby  Certify  that  Benjamin  Mifflin  hath  given  me  Directions 
to  sell  his  Negro  man  Cuff  to  himself  for  the  Sum  of  Sixty  Pounds  if  he 
can  raise  the  Money  having  Repeatedly  refused  from  Others  seventy 
Five  Pounds  and  upwards  for  him."  MS.  (1769)  in  Misc.  Coll.,  Box  10, 
Negroes. 

21  Pa.  Gazette,  Mar.  5,   1751. 

22  Cf.  Benezet,  Some  Historical  Account  of  Guinea,  134,  135,  where  he 
laments  the  difficulties  under  which  free  negroes  labor.     Also  same  au 
thor,  A  Mite  Cast  into  the  Treasury,  13-17,  where  he  argues  that  negro 
servants  should  not  be  held  longer  than  white  apprentices. 

23  "Die  mahrischen  Briider  folgten  diesem  ruhmlichen  Beispiel;  so  auch 
Christen  von  den  ubrigen  Bekenntnissen."     Ebeling,  in  Erdbeschreibung, 
etc.,  IV,   220. 

2*  Cf.  preamble  to  the  act  of  1780.  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  67,  68.  A  negro 
twenty-one  years  old  was  manumitted  because  "  all  mankind  have  an 
Equal  Natural  and  Just  right  to  Liberty."  MS.  Extracts  Rec.  Goshen 
Monthly  Meeting,  415  (G.  Cope). 


MANUMISSION  61 

ing  made.35  Any  estimate  as  to  how  many  negroes,  serv 
ants  and  free,  there  were  in  Pennsylvania  by  1780  must 
be  largely  a  conjecture,  but  it  is  perhaps  safe  to  say  that 
there  were  between  four  and  five  thousand.28 

The  act  of  1780,  which  put  an  end  to  the  further 
growth  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania,  marked  the  begin 
ning  of  the  final  work  of  the  liberators.  Coming  at  a  time 
when  so  many  people  had  given  freedom  to  their  slaves, 
and  passing  with  so  little  opposition  in  the  Assembly  as 
to  show  that  the  majority  of  Pennsylvania's  people  no 
longer  had  sympathy  with  slavery,  it  was  the  signal  to 
the  abolitionists  to  urge  the  manumission  of  such  ne 
groes  as  the  law  had  left  in  bondage.  The  task  was 
made  easier  by  the  fact  that  not  only  was  the  value  of  the 
slave  property  now  much  diminished,  but  a  man  no 
longer  needed  to  enter  into  surety  when  he  set  his  slaves 
free.  Doubtless  many  whose  religious  scruples  had  been 
balanced  by  material  considerations,  now  saw  the  way 
smooth  before  them,  or  arranged  to  make  the  sacri 
fice  cost  them  little  or  nothing  at  all.  During  this  period 
manumission  took  on  a  commercial  aspect  which  for 
merly  had  not  been  so  evident.  This  was  brought  about 
in  several  ways. 

Sometimes  negroes  had  saved  enough  to  purchase 
their  liberty.27  Many,  as  before,  received  freedom  upon 

25  MS.  General  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  Phila.  Co.,  1773-1780. 
Franklin,  Letter  to  Dean  Woodward,  Apr.  10,  1773,  in  Works  (ed. 
Sparks),  VIII,  42. 

28  In  1751  the  number  of  negroes  in  Pennsylvania,  including  Delaware, 
was  thought  to  be  11,000.  Cf.  above,  p.  12.  The  negroes  in  Pennsylva 
nia  alone  by  1780  probably  did  not  exceed  the  same  number.  Of  these 
6,000  were  said  to  be  slaves.  Cf.  above,  ibid.  In  some  places  by  this 
time  manumission  was  nearly  complete.  Cf.  W.  J.  Buck,  in  Coll.  Hist. 
Soc.  Pa.,  I,  201. 

27  MSS.  Misc.  Coll.,  Box  10,  Negroes. 


62  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

binding  themselves  to  pay  for  it  at  the  expiration  of  a 
certain  time.28  In  this  they  often  received  assistance 
from  well-disposed  people,  in  particular  from  the 
Friends,  who  had  by  no  means  stopped  the  good  work 
when  their  own  slaves  were  set  free.28  At  times  the  en 
tire  purchase  money  was  paid  by  some  philanthropist.80 
Frequently  one  member  of  a  negro  family  bought  free 
dom  for  another,  the  husband  often  paying  for  his  wife, 
the  father  for  his  children.81  Furthermore  it  had  now 
become  common  to  bind  out  negroes  for  a  term  of  years, 
and  many  owners  who  desired  their  slaves  to  be  free, 
found  partial  compensation  in  selling  them  for  a  limited 
period,  on  express  condition  that  all  servitude  should  be 
terminated  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  contract.  By 

28  MS.  Rec.  Pa.  Soc.  Abol.  SI.,  I,  19,  27,  29,  43,  67,  and  passim. 

28  A  MS.  dated  Phila.,  1769,  contains  a  list  of  persons  who  had  prom 
ised  to  contribute  towards  purchasing  a  negro's  freedom.  Among  the 
memoranda  are:  "  John  Head  agrees  to  give  him  Twenty  Shillings  and  not 
to  be  Repaid  .  .  .  John  Benezet  twenty  Shillings  .  .  .  Christopher  Marshall 
/7/6  ...  If  he  can  raise  with  my  Donation  enough  to  free  him  I  agree  to 
give  him  three  pounds  and  not  otherwise  I  promise  Saml  Emlen  jur  .  .  . 
Joseph  Pemberton  by  his  Desire  [Five  erased]  pounds  £3."  MS.  Misc. 
Coll.,  Box  10,  Negroes. 

30  Misc.   MSS.    1744-1859.     Northern,   Interior  and  Western   Counties, 
191   (1782). 

31  In  1779  a  negro  of  Bucks  County  to  secure  the  freedom  of  his  wife 
gave  his  note  to  be  paid  by  1783.     In  1782,  having  paid  part,  he  was  al 
lowed  to  take  his  wife  until  the  next  payment.     In   1785  she  was  free. 
MS.  Rec.  Pa.  Soc.  Abol.  Si.,  I,  27-43.     In  1787  negro  Samson  had  pur 
chased  his  wife  and  children  for  ninety-nine  pounds.     Ibid.,  I,  67.    James 
Oronogue,  who  had  been  hired  by  his  master  to  the  keeper  of  a  tavern, 
gained  by  his  obliging  behavior  sixty  pounds  from  the  customers  within 
four  years'  time,  and  at  his  master's  death  was  allowed  to  purchase  his 
freedom  for  one  hundred  pounds.     He  paid  besides  fifty  pounds  for  his 
wife.     Ibid.,   I,   69.     When   Cuff  Douglas  had  been  a  slave   for  thirty- 
seven  years  his  master  promised  him  freedom  after  four  years  more.    On 
the  master  agreeing  to  take  thirty  pounds  in  lieu  of  this  service,  Doug 
las  hired  himself  out,  and  was  free  at  the  end  of  sixteen  months.     He 
then  began  business  as  a  tailor,  and  presently  was  able  to  buy  his  wife 
and  children  for  ninety  pounds,  besides  one  son  for  whom  he  paid  forty- 
five  pounds.    Ibid.,  I,  72.     Also  ibid.,  I,  79,  91. 


MANUMISSION  63 

furthering  such  transactions  the  benevolent  tried  to 
help  negroes  to  gain  freedom.32  Occasionally  the  slave 
liberated  was  bound  for  a  term  of  years  to  serve  the 
former  master.83  Even  at  this  period,  however,  negroes 
continued  to  be  manumitted  from  motives  of  pure  benev 
olence.  Some  received  liberty  by  the  master's  testament, 
and  others  were  held  only  until  assurance  was  given  the 
master  that  he  would  not  become  liable  under  the  poor 
law.81 

As  the  result  of  the  earnest  efforts  that  were  made 
slavery  in  Pennsylvania  dwindled  steadily.  In  the 
course  of  a  long  time  it  would  doubtless  have  passed 
away  as  the  result  of  continued  individual  manumission. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  had  become  almost  extinct  within 
two  generations  after  1750.  This  was  brought  about 
by  work  that  affected  not  individuals,  but  whole  classes, 
and  finally  all  the  people  of  the  state ;  which  was  de 
signed  to  strike  at  the  root  of  slavery  and  destroy  it 
altogether.  This  was  abolition. 

82  "Wanted  to  purchase,  a  good  Negro  Wench  ...  If  to  be  sold  on  terms 
of  freedom  by  far  the  most  agreeable."  Pa.  Packet,  Aug.  22,  1778.  In 
1791  Caspar  Wistar  bought  a  slave  for  sixty  pounds  "to  extricate  him 
from  that  degraded  Situation  "  .  .  .  ,  his  purpose  being  to  keep  the  negro 
for  a  term  of  years  only.  MS.  Misc.  Coll.,  Box  10,  Negroes.  Numerous 
other  examples  among  the  same  MSS. 

88  "  I,  John  Lettour  from  motives  of  benevolence  and  humanity  ...  do 
.  .  .  set  free  .  .  .  my  Negro  Girl  Agathe  Aged  about  Seventeen  Years. 
On  condition  .  .  .  that  she  .  .  .  bind  herself  by  Indenture  to  serve  me 
...  Six  years  "  .  .  .  .  MS.  ibid.  Cf.  MS.  Abstract  Rec.  Abington 
Monthly  Meeting,  372  (1765). 

34  "  I  Manumit  ...  my  Negro  Girl  Abb  when  she  shall  Arrive  to  the  Age 
of  Eighteen  Years  .  .  .  (on  Condition  that  the  Committee  for  the  Abolition 
of  slavery  shall  make  entry  according  to  Law  ...  so  as  to  secure  me  from 
any  Costs  or  Trouble  on  me  or  my  Estate  on  said  Negro  after  the  age  of 
Eighteen  Years).  .  .  Hannah  Evans."  MS.  Misc.  Coll.,  Box  10,  Negroes. 
Cf.  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  70.  At  times  this  might  become  an  unpleasant  reality. 
Cf.  MS.  State  of  a  Case  respecting  a  Negro  (Ridgway  Branch). 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  SLAVERY — ABOLITION. 

THE  events  which  led  to  the  extinction  of  slavery  in 
Pennsylvania  fall  naturally  into  four  periods.  They  are, 
first,  the  years  from  1682  to  about  1740,  during  which 
the  Germans  discountenanced  slave-holding,  and  the 
Friends  ceased  importing  negroes  ;  second,  the  period  of 
the  Quaker  abolitionists,  from  about  1710  to  1780,  by 
which  time  slavery  among  the  Quakers  had  come  to  an 
end;  third,  from  1780  to  1788,  the  years  of  legislative 
action;  and  finally,  the  period  from  1788  to  the  time 
when  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  became  extinct  through 
the  gradual  working  of  the  act  for  abolition. 

Opposition  to  slaveholding  arose  among  the  Friends. 
Slavery  had  not  yet  been  recognized  in  statute  law 
when  they  began  to  protest  against  it.  This  protest, 
faint  in  the  beginning  and  taken  up  only  by  a  few  ideal 
ists,  was  never  stopped  afterwards,  but,  growing  con 
tinually  in  strength,  was,  as  the  events  of  after  years 
showed,  from  the  first  fraught  with  foreboding  of  doom 
to  the  institution.  Opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Friends 
had  begun  before  Pennsylvania  was  founded.  In  1671 
Fox,  travelling  in  the  West  Indies,  advised  his  brethren 
in  Barbadoes  to  deal  mildly  with  their  negroes,  and  after 
certain  years  of  servitude  to  make  them  free.  Four 
years  later  William  Edmundson  in  one  of  his  letters 
asked  how  it  was  possible  for  men  to  reconcile  Christ's 
command,  to  do  as  they  would  be  done  by,  with  the  prac- 

64 


ABOLITION  65 

tice  of  holding  slaves  without  hope  or  expectation  of 
freedom.1  Nevertheless  in  the  first  years  after  the  set 
tlement  of  Pennsylvania  Friends  were  the  principal 
slaveholders.  This  led  to  differences  of  opinion,  but  at 
the  sta; f  economic  considerations  prevailed. 

The  reform  really  began  in  1688,  a  year  memorable 
for  the  first  formal  protest  against  slavery  in  North 
America.2  Germantown  had  been  settled  by  German 
refugees  who  in  religious  belief  were  Friends.  These 
men,  simple-minded  and  honest,  having  had  no  previous 
acquaintance  with  slavery,  were  amazed  to  find  it  exist 
ing  in  Penn's  colony.  At  their  monthly  meeting,  the 
eighteenth  of  the  second  month,  1688,  Pastorius  and 
other  leaders  drew  up  an  eloquent  and  touching  me 
morial.  In  words  of  surpassing  nobleness  and  sim 
plicity  they  stated  the  reasons  why  they  were  against 
slavery  and  the  traffic  in  men's  bodies.  Would  the 
masters  wish  so  to  be  dealt  with  ?  Was  it  possible  for 
this  to  be  in  accord  with  Christianity?  In  Pennsylvania 
there  was  freedom  of  conscience ;  there  ought  likewise 
to  be  freedom  of  the  body.  What  report  would  it 
cause  in  Europe  that  in  this  new  land  the  Quakers 
handled  men  as  there  men  treated  their  cattle?  If  it 
were  possible  that  Christian  men  might  do  these  things 
they  desired  to  be  so  informed.8 

1  Edmundson's  Journal,  61.     Janney,  History  of  the  Friends,  III,  178. 

2  Pennypacker,  "  The   Settlement  of  Germantown,"  in  Pa.  Mag.,  IV, 
28;    McMaster,   "The   Abolition   of   Slavery   in   the   United   States,"   in 
Chatauquan,  XV,  24,  25    (Apr.,   1892).     For  the  protest  against  slavery 
and  the  slave-trade  (De  instauranda  JEthiopum  Salute,  Madrid,  1647)  of 
the  Jesuit,  Alfonso  Sandoval,  cf.  Saco,  Historia  de  la  Esclavitud  de  la 
Rasa  Africana  en  el  Nuevo  Mundo,  253-256. 

8  Pennypacker,  place  cited;  Learned,  Life  of  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius, 
261,  262.  Facsimile  of  protest  in  Ridgway  Branch  of  the  Library  Com 
pany  of  Philadelphia. 


66  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

This  protest  they  sent  to  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
Richard  Worrel's.  There  it  was  considered,  and  found 
too  weighty  to  be  dealt  with,  and  so  it  was  sent  on  to  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  at  Philadelphia,  and  from  thence  to 
the  Yearly  Meeting  at  Burlington,  which  finally  decided 
not  to  give  a  positive  judgment  in  the  case.4  For  the 
present  nothing  came  of  it ;  but  the  idea  did  not  die.  It 
probably  lingered  in  the  minds  of  many  men ;  for  within 
a  few  years  a  sentiment  had  been  aroused  which  be 
came  widespread  and  powerful. 

In  1693  George  Keith,  leader  of  a  dissenting  faction 
of  Quakers,  laid  down  as  one  of  his  doctrines  that 
negroes  were  men,  and  that  slavery  was  contrary  to  the 
religion  of  Christ;  also  that  masters  should  set  their 
negroes  at  liberty  after  some  reasonable  time.5  At  a 
meeting  of  Friends  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1693  the  pre 
vailing  opinion  was  that  none  should  buy  except  to  set 
free.  Three  years  later  at  the  Friends'  Yearly  Meeting 
it  was  resolved  to  discourage  the  further  bringing  in  of 
slaves.6  In  1712  when  the  Yearly  Meeting  at  Philadel 
phia  desiring  counsel  applied  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  at 
London,  it  received  answer  that  the  multiplying  of 
negroes  might  be  of  dangerous  consequence.7  In  the 
next  and  the  following  years  the  Meetings  strongly  ad 
vised  Friends  not  to  import  and  not  to  buy  slaves.8  From 
1730  to  1737  reports  showed  that  the  importation  of 

4  The  Monthly  Meeting  declared  "  we  think  it  not  expedient  for  us  to 
meddle  with  it  here."    Pennypacker,  place  cited,  30,  31. 

5  Watson,  Annals,  II,  262.     "  An  Exhortation  and  Caution  To  Friends 
Concerning  buying  or  keeping  of  Negroes,"  in  Pa.  Mag.,  XIII,  265-270. 
This   is   said   to    have   been   the   first   printed   protest  against  slavery   in 
America.     Cf.  Hildeburn,  A  Century  of  Printing,  etc.,  I,  28,  29;  Gabriel 
Thomas,  Account,  53;  Settle,  Notes,  367. 

6  Clarkson,  Life  of  Penn,  II,  78,  79. 

7  Cf.  Settle,  372. 
*lbid.,  373- 


ABOLITION  67 

negroes  by  Friends  was  being  largely  discontinued.    By 
1745  it  had  virtually  ceased.8 

It  is  generally  believed  that  Pennsylvania's  restrictive 
legislation,  that  long  series  of  acts  passed  for  the  pur 
pose  of  keeping  out  negroes  by  means  of  prohibitive 
duties,  was  largely  due  to  Quaker  influence.  This  is 
probably  true,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  prove.  The  proceed 
ings  of  the  colonial  Assembly  have  been  reported  so 
briefly  that  they  do  not  give  the  needed  information. 
When,  however,  the  strong  feeling  of  the  Friends  is 
understood  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  they  con 
trolled  the  early  legislatures,  it  is  not  hard  to  believe  that 
the  high  duties  were  imposed  because  they  wished  the 
traffic  at  an  end.  Their  feeling  about  the  slave-trade 
and  their  desire  to  stop  it  are  revealed  again  and  again 
in  the  meeting  minutes.10  The  most  drastic  law  was 
certainly  due  to  them.11 

8  ibid.,  377. 

"  Whereas  several  Papers  have  been  read  relating  to  the  keeping  and 
bringing  in  of  Negroes  ...  it  is  the  advice  of  this  Meeting,  that  Friends 
be  careful  not  to  encourage  the  bringing  in  of  any  more  Negroes  "... 
MS.  "  Negroes  or  Slaves,"  Yearly  Meeting  Advices,  1682-1777  (1696). 
"  This  meeting  is  also  dissatisfied  with  Friends  buying  and  incouriging 
the  bringing  in  of  Negroes  "...  MS.  Chester  Quarterly  Meeting  Minutes, 
6  6th  mo.,  1711.  "  There  having  a  conscern  Come  upon  severall  friends 
belonging  to  this  meeting  Conscerning  the  Importation  of  Negros  .  .  .  after 
some  time  spent  in  the  Consideration  thereof  it  is  the  Unanimous  sencc 
of  this  meeting  that  friends  should  not  be  concerned  hereafter  in  the 
Importation  thereof  nor  buy  any  "...  MS.  Chester  Monthly  Meeting 
Minutes,  27  4th  mo.,  1715.  MS.  Chester  Quarterly  Meeting  Minutes, 
i  6th  mo.,  1715.  "  This  meeting  have  been  for  some  time  under  a 
Concern  by  reason  of  the  great  Quantity  of  Negros  fetched  and  im 
ported  into  this  Country."  Ibid.,  n  6th  mo.,  1729.  MS.  Yearly  Meeting 
Minutes,  19-23  7th  mo.,  17.30.  As  soon  as  Friends  had  been  brought  to 
cease  the  importation  of  negroes,  attack  was  made  upon  the  practice  of 
Friends  buying  negroes  imported  by  others.  Cf.  MS.  Chester  Q.  M.  M., 
n  6th  mo.,  1729;  9  9th  mo.,  1730.  The  MS.  Chester  M.  M.  M.  mention 
100  books  on  the  slave-trade  for  circulation. 

11  "  We  also  kindly  received  your  advice  about  negro  slaves,  and  we  are 
one  with  you,  that  the  multiplying  of  them,  may  be  of  a  dangerous  con- 


68  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

But  the  small  number  of  negroes  in  Pennsylvania  as 
compared  with  the  neighboring  northern  colonies  was 
above  all  due  to  the  early  and  continuous  aversion  to 
slavery  manifested  by  the  Germans.  The  first  German 
settlers  opposed  the  institution  for  religious  reasons.12 
This  opposition  is  perhaps  to  be  ascribed  to  them  as 
Quakers  rather  than  as  men  of  a  particular  race.  But 
as  successive  swarms  poured  into  the  country  it  was 
found,  it  may  be  from  religious  scruples,  more  probably 
because  of  peculiar  economic  characteristics  and  be 
cause  of  feelings  of  sturdy  industry  and  self-reliance, 
that  they  almost  never  bought  negroes  nor  even  hired 
them.13  As  the  German  element  in  Pennsylvania  was 

sequence,  and  therefore  a  Law  was  made  in  Pennsylvania  laying  Twenty 
pounds  Duty  upon  every  one  imported  there,  which  Law  the  Queen  was 
pleas'd  to  disanull,  we  would  heartily  wish  that  a  way  might  be  found  to 
stop  the  bringing  in  more  here,  or  at  least  that  Friends  may  be  less 
concerned  in  buying  or  selling,  of  any  that  may  be  brought  in,  and  hope 
for  your  assistance  with  the  Government  if  any  farther  Law  should  be 
made  discouraging  the  importation.  We  know  not  of  any  Friend 
amongst  ws  that  has  any  hand  or  concern  in  bringing  any  out  of  their 
own  Country."  MS.  Yearly  M.  M.,  22  7th  mo.,  1714.  This  was  written 
in  reply  to  the  London  Yearly  Meeting,  and  alludes  to  the  act  passed  in 
1712.  See  above,  p.  3. 

12  See  above,  p.  65.     Cf.  also  P.  C.  Plockhoy's  principle  laid  down  in 
his  Kort  en  Klaer  Ontwerp   (Amsterdam,  1662):  "  No  lordship  or  servile 
slavery  shall  burden  our  Company."     Quoted  in  Pennypacker,  Settlement 
of  Germantown,  204,  292. 

13  "  The  Germans  seldom  hire  men  to  work  upon  their  farms."   Rush, 
An  Account  of  the  Manners  of  the  German  Inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania 
(1789),  24.     "They  never,  as  a  general  thing,  had  colored  servants  or 
slaves."    Ibid.,  24  (note  by  Rupp).     "  Slaves  in  Pennsylvania  never  were 
as  numerous  in  proportion  to  the  white  population  as  in  New  York  and 
New  Jersey.     To  our  German  population  this  is  certainly  attributable — 
Wherever   they   or   their    numerous    descendants   located   they    preferred 
their  own  labor  to  that  of  negro  slaves."     Buck,  MS.  History  of  Bucks 
County,  69.     "  Of  all  the  nations  who  have  settled  in  America,  the  Ger 
mans  have  availed  themselves  the  least  of  the  unjust  and  demoralizing 
aid  of  slavery."  W.  Grimshaw,  History   of  the   United  States,   79.     The 
truth    of   these    statements   is    revealed    in    the    tax-lists   of  the   different 
counties.      Thus,   in   Berks   County  there   were   2692   German   tax-payers 
(61%)  and  1724  (39%)  not  Germans.    Of  these  44  Germans  held  62  slaves, 


ABOLITION  69 

very  considerable,  amounting  at  times  to  one-third  of 
the  population,  such  a  course,  though  lacking  in  dra 
matic  quality,  and  though  it  has  been  unheralded  by 
the  historians,  was  nevertheless  of  immense  and  de 
cisive  importance." 

During  this  period,  then,  much  had  been  accom 
plished.  Not  only  had  the  Germans  turned  their  backs 
upon  slave-holding,  but  the  Friends,  brought  to  perceive 
the  iniquity  of  the  practice,  had  ceased  importing  slaves, 
and  for  the  most  part  had  ceased  buying  them.  It  was 
another  generation  before  the  conservative  element 
could  be  brought  to  advance  beyond  this  position.  It 
was  not  so  easy  to  make  them  give  up  the  slaves  they 
already  had. 

The  succeeding  period  was  characterized  by  an  in 
evitable  struggle  which  ensued  between  considerations 
of  economy  and  ethics.  The  attitude  of  many  Friends 
was  that  in  refusing  to  buy  any  more  slaves  they  were 

and  57  of  other  nationalities  held  92  slaves.  3  Pa.  Arch.,  XVIII,  303- 
430.  In  York  County,  where  there  were  2051  German  property-holders 
(34%)  and  3993  who  were  not  Germans  (66%),  27  Germans  held  44 
slaves  as  against  178  others  who  held  319  slaves.  3  Pa.  Arch.,  XXI, 
165-324.  (Both  these  estimates  are  for  1780.)  In  Lancaster  County  the 
property-holders  included  approximately  3475  Germans  (48%)  and  3706 
not  Germans  (52%).  Here  31  Germans  held  46  slaves,  while  200  not 
Germans  held  402  slaves.  3  Pa.  Arch.,  XVII,  489-685  (1779)-  The 
records  of  the  German  churches  rarely  mention  slaves. 

14  The  small  number  of  negroes  in  Pennsylvania  was  often  noticed. 
Burnaby,  Travels  through  the  Middle  Settlements,  63,  said  "there  are  few 
negroes  or  slaves"  .  .  .  (1759),  Anburey,  Travels  through  the  Interior 
Parts  of  America,  II  ,280-281,  said,  "  The  Pennsylvanians  .  .  .  are  more 
industrious  of  themselves,  having  but  few  blacks  among  them."  (1778). 
Cf.  Proud,  History,  II,  274.  Estimates  as  to  the  number  of  Germans  in 
Pennsylvania  vary  from  3/5  (1747,  cf.  Rupp's  note  in  Rush,  Account,  i) 
to  1/3  (1789,  ibid.,  54).  For  many  estimates  cf.  Diffenderffer,  German 
Immigration  into  Pennsylvania,  pt.  II,  The  Redemptioners,  99-108.  Some 
few  Germans  had  intended  to  hold  slaves  from  the  first.  Cf.  the  articles 
of  agreement  between  the  members  of  the  Frankfort  Company  (1686): 
..."  alle  .  .  .  leibeigenen  Menschen  .  .  .  sollen  unter  Allen  Interes- 
senten  pro  rato  der  Ackerzahl  gemein  seyn."  MS.  in  possession  of  S.  W. 
Pennypacker,  Philadelphia. 


70  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

fulfilling  all  reasonable  obligations.  Sometimes  there 
was  a  desire  to  hush  up  the  whole  matter  and  get  it  out 
of  mind.  Isaac  Norris  tells  of  a  meeting  that  was 
large  and  comfortable,  where  the  business  would  have 
gone  very  well  but  for  the  warm  pushing  by  some 
Friends  of  Chester  in  the  matter  of  negroes.  But  he 
adds  that  affairs  were  so  managed  that  the  unpleasant 
subject  was  dropped.15  What  would  have  been  the  re 
sult  of  this  disposition  cannot  now  be  known;  but  it 
proved  impossible  to  smooth  matters  away.  There  had 
already  begun  an  age  of  reformers,  forerunners  by  a 
hundred  years  of  Garrison  and  his  associates,  men  who 
were  content  with  nothing  less  than  entire  abolition. 

The  first  of  the  abolitionists  was  William  Southeby 
of  Maryland,  who  went  to  Pennsylvania.  For  years  the 
subject  of  slavery  weighed  heavily  upon  his  mind.  As 
early  as  1696  he  urged  the  Meeting  to  take  action.  His 
petition  to  the  Provincial  Assembly  in  1712  asking  that 
all  slaves  be  set  free  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  in 
cidents  in  the  early  struggle  against  slavery.  But  the 
Assembly  resolved  that  his  project  was  neither  just  nor 
convenient ;  and  his  ideas  were  so  far  in  advance  of  the 
times  that  not  only  did  he  a  little  later  lose  favor  among 
the  Friends,  but  long  after  it  was  the  judgment  that  his 
ill-regulated  zeal  had  brought  only  sorrow.18 

15  Watson,  (MS.)  Annals,  530.  The  same  spirit  is  apparent  much  later. 
"  There  generally  appeared' an  uneasiness  in  their  minds  respecting  them, 
tho  all  are  not  so  fully  convinced  of  the  Iniquity  of  the  practice  as  to 
get  over  the  difficulty  which  they  apprehend  would  attend  their  giving 
them  their  liberty  "...  MS.  Abstract  Rec.  Gwynedd  Monthly  Meeting, 
278  (1770).  "  Perhaps  thou  wilt  say,  '  I  do  not  buy  any  negroes:  I  only 
use  those  left  me  by  my  father.'  But  is  it  enough  to  satisfy  your  own 
conscience?  "  Benezet,  Notes  on  the  Slave  Trade,  8. 

10  Votes  and  Proceedings,  II,  no;  The  Friend,  XXVIII,  293,  and  fol 
lowing;  A.  C.  Thomas,  "  The  Attitude  of  the  Society  of  Friends  toward 
Slavery  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth  Centuries,  Particularly  in  Rela 
tion  to  Its  Own  Members,"  in  Amer.  Soc.  Church  History,  VIII,  273,  274. 


ABOLITION  71 

The  next  in  point  of  time  was  Ralph  Sandiford 
(1693-1733),  a  Friend  of  Philadelphia.  His  hostility 
to  slavery  was  aroused  by  the  sufferings  of  negroes 
whom  he  had  seen  in  the  West  Indies ;  and  his  feeling 
was  so  strong  that  on  one  occasion  he  refused  to  accept 
a  gift  from  a  slaveholder.  In  1729  he  published  his 
Mystery  of  Iniquity,  an  impassioned  protest  against 
slavery.  Although  threatened  with  severe  penalties  if 
he  circulated  this  work,  he  distributed  it  wherever  he 
felt  that  it  would  be  of  use."  Such  enmity  did  he  arouse 
that  he  was  forced  to  leave  the  city.w 

His  work  was  carried  forward  by  Benjamin  Lay 
(1677-1759),  an  Englishman  who  came  from  Barba- 
does  to  Philadelphia  in  1731.  He  too  aroused  much 
hostility  by  his  violence  of  expression  and  eccentric  ef 
forts  to  create  pity  for  the  slaves.  He  gave  his  whole 
life  to  the  cause,  but  owing  to  his  too  radical  methods 
he  was  much  less  influential  than  he  might  have  been.19 

A  man  of  far  greater  power  was  John  Woolman 
(17201772),  perhaps  the  greatest  liberator  that  the 
Friends  ever  produced.  Woolman  gave  up  his  position 
as  accountant  rather  than  write  bills  for  the  sale  of 
negroes.  He  was  very  religious,  and  most  of  his  life 
he  spent  as  a  minister  travelling  from  one  colony  to 
another  trying  to  persuade  men  of  the  wickedness  of 

17  "  Ralph  Sandiford  Cr  for  Cash  receiv'd  of  Benj«  Lay  for  50  of  his 
Books  which  he  intends  to  give  away  .  .  .  10  "  (sh.)  MS.  Benjamin  Frank 
lin's  Account  Book,  Feb.   28,   1732-1733. 

18  Sandiford,  Mystery  of  Iniquity,  43 ;  Vaux,  Memoirs  of  the  Lives  of 
Benjamin    Lay    and    Ralph    Sandiford;    The    Friend,    L,    170;    Thomas, 
Attitude,  274;  Franklin,  Works  (ed.  Sparks),  X,  403. 

uCf.  American  Weekly  Mercury,  Nov.  2,  1738,  for  notice  in  which  the 
Friends'  Meeting  denounces  his  All  Slave-Keepers  .  .  .  Apostates  (1737). 
Cf.  anecdotes  related  by  Vaux;  Settle,  Notices,  375,  376;  The  Friend,  L, 
170;  Thomas,  Attitude,  274. 


72  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

slavery.  In  1754  he  published  the  first  part  of  his  book, 
Some  Considerations  on  the  Keeping  of  Negroes,  of 
which  the  second  part  appeared  in  1762.  He  was 
stricken  with  smallpox  while  on  a  visit  to  England,  and 
died  there.20 

The  last  was  Anthony  Benezet  ( 1713-1784) ,  a  French 
Huguenot  who  joined  the  Society  of  Friends.  He  came 
to  Philadelphia  as  early  as  1731,  but  it  was  about  1750 
that  his  attention  was  drawn  to  the  negroes.  From  that 
time  to  the  end  of  his  life  he  was  their  zealous  advocate. 
By  his  writings  upon  Africa,  slavery,  and  the  slave- 
trade,  he  attracted  the  attention  and  enlisted  the  support 
of  many.  He  was  untiring  in  his  efforts.  Frequently 
he  talked  with  the  negroes  and  strove  to  improve  them ; 
he  endeavored  to  create  a  favorable  impression  of  them ; 
he  was  influential  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  abo 
lition  act;  and  at  his  death  he  bequeathed  the  bulk  of 
his  property  to  the  cause  which  he  had  served  so  well  in 
his  life.21 

That  these  Quaker  reformers,  particularly  men  like 
Woolman  and  Benezet,  exerted  an  enormous  influence 
against  slavery  in  Pennsylvania,  there  can  be  no  doubt.** 
Their  influence  is  attested  by  numerous  contemporary 
allusions,  but  it  is  proved  far  better  by  the  change  in 
sentiment  which  was  gradually  brought  about.  Southe- 
by,  Sandiford,  and  Lay  were  before  their  time  and  were 

20  Settle,  Notices,  378-382;  Thomas,  Attitude,  245,  275-279;  Tyler,  Lit 
erary  History  of  the  American  Revolution,  II,  339-3475  The  Friend,  LIII, 
190;  Woolman,  Journal. 

^Vaux,  Memoirs  of  Beneset;  The  Friend,  LXXI,  369;  Thomas,  274, 
275;  Settle,  382-387;  Benezet's  own  writings. 

22  Thomas,  273.  There  must  have  been  a  great  many  other  reformers 
of  considerable  influence,  but  of  less  fame,  about  whose  work  little  has 
come  down.  Cf.  "  Thos.  Nicholson  on  Keeping  Negroes"  (1767).  MS. 
in  Misc.  Coll.,  Box  10,  Negroes. 


ABOLITION  73 

treated  as  fanatics.  Woolman  and  Benezet  who  came 
afterward  were  able  to  reap  the  harvest  which  had 
been  sown. 

The  movement  which  had  been  urged  with  violent 
rapidity  from  without  was  all  the  while  proceeding 
slowly  and  quietly  within.  For  many  years  the  Friends 
considered  slavery,  and  almost  every  year  the  Meetings 
made  reports  upon  the  subject.  These  reports  showed 
that  the  number  of  Quakers  who  bought  slaves  was  con 
stantly  decreasing.23  In  1743  an  annual  query  was  in 
stituted.24  In  1754  the  Yearly  Meeting  circulated  a 
printed  letter  strongly  condemning  slavery.25  The  sec 
ond  decisive  step  followed  when  it  was  made  a  rule  that  ^ 
Friends  who  persisted  in  buying  slaves  should  be  dis 
owned.  The  measure  was  effective  and  this  part  of  the 
work  was  soon  accomplished.28  Finally  in  1758  the 
third  step  was  taken  when  it  was  unanimously  agreed 
that  Friends  should  be  advised  to  manumit  their  slaves, 
and  that  those  who  persisted  in  holding  them  should  not 

23  Cf.  MS.  Chester  Q.  M.  M.,  14  6th  mo.,  1738;  8  6th  mo.,  1743. 

24  Needles,  Memoir,   13. 
^Bettle,  377. 

26  The  MS.  Chester  Q.  M.  M.,  8  8th  mo.,  1763,  say  .  .  .  "  we  are  not 
quite  clear  of  dealing  in  Negro's,  but  care  is  taken  mostly  to  discourage 
it  .  .  ."  Three  years  later  they  add  ..."  clear  of  importing  or  purchasing 
Negro's."  Ibid.,  n  8th  mo.,  1766.  Cf.  also  ibid.,  10  8th  mo.,  1767;  MS. 
Chester  M.  M.  Miscellaneous  Papers,  28  ist  mo.,  1765;  MS.  Darby  M. 
M.  M.,  II,  n,  12,  16,  19,  (1764),  24,  27,  31,  33,  35,  38,  40,  42,  45,  46, 
(1764-1765).  These  references  concern  the  case  of  Enoch  Eliot,  who, 
having  purchased  two  negroes,  was  repeatedly  urged  to  set  them  free, 
and  finally  did  so.  MS.  Abstract  Rec.  Abington  M.  M.,  28  7th  mo.,  1760; 
25  8th  mo.,  1760.  "  One  of  the  frds  appd  to  visit  Jonathan  Jones  reports 
they  all  had  an  oppertunity  With  him  sd  Jonathan,  and  that  he  gave 
them  exspectation  of  not  making  any  more  purchases  of  that  kind,  as 
also  he  is  sorry  for  the  purchace  he  did  make"  .  .  .  Ibid.,  24  nth  mo., 
1760;  also  ibid.,  24  nth  mo.,  1760;  20  gth  mo.,  1762;  29  loth  mo.,  1764. 


74  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  affairs  of  the  Society/7 
John  Woolman  and  others  were  appointed  on  com 
mittees  to  visit  slaveholders  and  persuade  them.28 

The  work  of  these  visiting  committees  is  as  remark 
able  as  any  in  the  history  of  slavery.  Self-sacrificing 
people  who -had  freed  their  own  slaves  now  abandoned 
their  interests  and  set  out  to  persuade  others  to  give 
negroes  the  freedom  thought  to  be  due  them.  In  south 
eastern  Pennsylvania  are  old  diaries  almost  untouched 
for  a  century  and  a  half  which  bear  witness  of  charac 
ters  odd  and  heroic;  which  contain  the  story  of  men 
and  women  sincere,  brave,  and  unfaltering,  who  united 
quiet  mysticism  with  the  zeal  of  a  crusader.  The  com 
mittees  undertook  to  persuade  a  whole  population  to 
give  up  its  slaves.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  task  was  a 
difficult  one.  Again  and  again  .the  writers  speak  of  ob 
stacles  overcome.  They  tell  of  owners  who  would  not 
be  convinced,  who  acknowledged  that  slavery  was 
wrong,  and  promised  that  they  would  buy  no  more 
slaves,  but  who*  affirmed  that  they  would  keep  such  as 
they  had.  The  diaries  speak  of  repeated  visits,  of  the 

27  MS.  Yearly  M.  M.,  23-29  gth  mo.,  1758,  where  Friends  are  earnestly 
entreated  to  "  sett  them  at  Liberty,  making  a  Christian  Provision  for  them 
according  to  their  Ages  etc"  .  .  .   Cf.  report  about  George  Ragan:   .   .  . 
"  as  to  his  Buying  and  selling  a  Negro,  he  saith  he  Cannot  see  the  Evil 
thereof,  and  therefore  cannot  make  any  satisfaction,  and  as  he  has  been 
much  Laboured  with  by  this  m^  to  bring  him  to  a  sight  of  his  Error,  This 
mE  therefore  agreeable  to  a  minute  of  our  Yearly  Mg  can  do  no  Less  than 
so  far  Testify  agst  him  ...  as  not  to  Receive  his  Collections,  neither  is  he 
to  sit  in  our  m*s  for  Discipline  until  he  can  see  his  Error  "...  MS. 
Abst.   Abington   M.   M.,   288   (1761).    Cf.   Michener,  Retrospect  of  Early 
Quakerism,  346,  347;  A  Brief  Statement  of  the  rise  and  Progress  of  the 
Testimony  of  the  Religious  Society  of  Friends,  against  Slavery  and  the 
Slave  Trade,  21-24;  Sharpless,  A  History  of  Quaker  Government  in  Penn 
sylvania,  II,  229;   Needles,    13.     For  the  fervid  feeling  at  this  time  cf. 
Journal  of  John  Churchman   (1756),  in  Friends'  Library,  VI,  236. 

28  Settle,  378;  Sharpless,  II,  229.     Cf.  also  Journal  of  Daniel  Stanton, 
in  Friends'  Library,   XII,   167. 


ABOLITION  75 

arguments  employed,  of  slow  and  gradual  yielding,  and 
of  final  triumph.  If  ever  Christian  work  was  carried 
on  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  it  was  when  John  Woolman, 
Isaac  Jackson,  James  Moon,  and  their  fellow  mission 
aries  put  an  end  to  slavery  among  the  Quakers  of  Penn 
sylvania.28 

The  penalties  denounced  by  the  Meeting  were  im 
posed  with  firmness.  In  1761  the  Chester  Quarterly 
Meeting  dealt  with  a  member  for  having  bought  and 
sold  a  slave.30  Through  this  and  the  following  years 
there  are  many  records  in  the  Monthly  Meetings  of 
manumissions,  voluntary  and  persuaded ;  record  being 
made  in  each  case  to  ensure  the  negro  his  freedom.31 
In  1774  the  Philadelphia  Meeting  resolved  that  Friends 
who  held  slaves  beyond  the  age  at  which  white  ap 
prentices  were  discharged,  should  be  treated  as  dis 
orderly  persons.32  The  work  of  abolition  was  practically 
completed  in  1776  when  the  resolution  passed  that 
members  who  persisted  in  holding  slaves  were  to  be 

29  MS.  Abst.  Abington  M.  M.,  328,  336,  347,  35i,  358,  368,  372,  398; 
MS.  Min.  Sadsbury  M.  M.,  1737-8 — 1783,  pp.  270,  290;  MS.  Min.  Radnor 
M.  M.,  1772-1782,  pp.  63,  66,  71,  102,  103,  107,  etc.;  MS.  Min.  Women's  Q. 
M.,  Bucks  Co.,  26  8th  mo.,  1779;  30  8th  mo.,  1781;  MS.  Darby  M.  M.  M., 
II,  87,   91,  93,  (1769),   178   (i774),   180,   181,   184,   186,   190   (i775),  309, 
312   (1780);  MS.  Women's  Min.  Darby  M.  M.,  2  2d  mo.,  1775;   30  3rd 
mo.,  1775;  3  8th  mo.,  1780;  31  8th  mo.,  1780;  MS.  Extracts  Buckingham 
M.   M.,    128,    130,   136   (1767-1768);   MS.   Diary  of   Richard  Barnard,  24 
9th  mo.,  1774;  7  6th  mo.,  1780;  MS.  Journal  of  Joshua  Brown,  nth  mo., 
1775;   above  all  the  MS.   Diary  of  James  Moon,  passim.  Cf.   Sharpless, 
Quakerism  and  Politics,   159-178;  Whittier's  introduction  to  John  Wool- 
man's  Journal. 

30  Futhey  and  Cope,  History  of  Chester  Co.,  423. 

81  Cf.  Abst.  Rec.  Gwynedd  M.  M.,  201,  204,  213,  218,  240,  270,  271, 
273,  278,  280,  307,  311,  312,  316,  321,  322,  323,  336,  348,  374,  471;  MS. 
Papers  Middletown  M.  M.,  1759-1786,  pp.  386,  388,  389,  39o;  Franklin, 
Works,  (ed.  Sparks),  VIII,  42. 

33  Brief  Statement,  49. 


76  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

disowned.33  If  this  is  understood  in  connection  with  the 
fact  that  in  the  Meetings  questions  were  rarely  decided 
except  by  almost  unanimous  vote,  it  is  clear  that  so  far 
as  the  Friends  were  concerned  slavery  was  nearly  ex 
tinct.  This  was  almost  absolutely  accomplished  by 
I780.34 

The  wholesale  private  abolition  of  slavery  by  the 
Friends  of  Pennsylvania  is  one  of  .those  occurrences 
over  which  the  historian  may  well  linger.  It  was  not 
delayed  until  slavery  had  become  unprofitable,35  nor  was 
it  forced  through  any  violent  hostility.  It  was  a  result 
attained  merely  by  calm,  steady  persuasion,  and  a  dis 
position  to  obey  the  dictates  of  conscience  unflinchingly. 
As  such  it  is  among  the  grandest  examples  of  the 
triumph  of  principle  and  ideal  righteousness  over  self- 
interest.36  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  any  body  of 

83  MS.  Yearly  M.  M.,  27  pth  mo.,  1776;  Brief  Statement,  24-27;  Needles, 
13;  Thomas,  245;  Sharpless,  History  of  Quaker  Government  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  II,  138,  139. 

34  Brief  Statement,  31-35;  Needles,   13;   Sharpless,  II,  226.     For  some 
years  the  Meetings  continued  to  make  regular  reports  on  this  subject. 
"  7th  No  Slaves  among  us  and  such  of  their  Offspring  as  are  under  our 
Care  are  generally  pretty  well  provided  for."    MS.  Rec.  Warrington  Q. 
M..  25  8th  mo..  1788. 

35  In    the    absence    of    a    plantation    system    slavery    in    Pennsylvania 
never  was  profitable  in  the  same  sense  as  in  Virginia  or  South  Carolina, 
and  where  white  labor  could  be  obtained  slavery  could  not  compete.  Cf. 
Franklin,  Works,  II,  314,  3^5   O75O.     But  as  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  obtain  sufficient  white  labor,  or  at  least  to  retain  it,  slavery  as  it  ex 
isted  in  Pennsylvania  was  profitable  throughout  the  colonial  period.     For 
the  strong  desire  to  import,  see  above,  chap.  I.     For  the  high  prices  paid 
in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  for  the  right  to  hold  negroes 
to  the  age  of  28,  see  below,  p.  94. 

38  This  is  my  judgment  after  a  careful  investigation  of  the  Friends' 
records.  Adam  Smith,  who  had  not  seen  these  records,  but  who  wrote 
just  when  the  work  was  being  completed,  thought  differently.  Wealth  of 
Nations  (ed.  Rogers),  I,  391. 


ABOLITION  77 

men  and  women  other  than  the  Friends  were  capable  of 
such  conduct  at  .this  time.37 

So  far  the  checking  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  had 
been  the  result  of  two  great  factors ;  that  the  Germans 
would  not  hold  slaves,  and  that  the  Friends  gradually 
gave  them  up.  Another  factor  now  made  it  possible  to 
bring  about  the  end  of  the  institution  altogether.  There 
began  the  period  of  the  long  contest  of  the  Revolution, 
when  Pennsylvania  was  stirred  .to  its  depths  by  the 
struggle  for  independence. 

Almost  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  in  1776,  the  As 
sembly  received  from  citizens  of  Philadelphia  two  pe 
titions  that  manumission  be  rendered  easier.  These  pe 
titions  accomplished  nothing,38  but  the  feeling  which  had 
been  gathering  strength  for  so  many  years  went  for 
ward  unchecked,  and  by  1778  there  existed  a  powerful 
sentiment  in  favor  of  legislative  abolition.  Therefore 
in  February,  1779,  the  draft  of  a  bill  was  prepared  and 
recommended  by  the  Council ;  but  for  a  while  no  prog 
ress  was  made,  since  the  Assembly,  though  it  approved 
the  principle,  believed  that  such  a  measure  should  orig 
inate  in  itself.89  Toward  the  end  of  .the  year  the  matter 
was  taken  up  in  earnest,  and  a  bill  was  soon  drafted. 
Public  sentiment  was  thoroughly  aroused  now.  Peti 
tions  for  and  against  the  bill  came  to  the  Assembly,  and 
letters  were  published  in  the  newspapers.  The  friends 
of  the  measure  were  untiring  in  their  efforts.  Anthony 
Benezet  is  said  to  have  visited  every  member  of  the  As- 

37  Other  sects  followed  the  example  of  the  Friends,   cf.  Ebeling,  IV, 
220,  but  their  work  was  mostly  significant  in  connection  with  the  legis 
lative  work  of  the  Assembly.     For  the  effects  of  the  work  of  the  Friends 
cf.  Bowden,  History  of  the  Friends,  II,  221. 

38  Votes  and  Proceedings,  1767-1776,  p.  696. 

88  i  Pa.  Arch.,  VII,  79;  Journal  of  House  of  Rep.,  1776-1781,  p.  311. 


78  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

sembly.    On  March  i,  1780,  the  bill  was  enacted  into 
a  law,  thirty-four  yeas  and  twenty-one  nays.40 

The  "  Act  for  the  gradual  Abolition  of  Slavery  "  pro 
vided  that  thereafter  no  child  born  in  Pennsylvania 
.,  should  be  a  slave ;  but  that  such  children,  if  negroes  or 
mulattoes  born  of  a  slave  mother,  should  be  servants 
until  they  were  twenty-eight  years  of  age ;  that  all  pres 
ent  slaves  should  be  registered  by  their  masters  before 
November  i,  1780 ;  and  that  such  as  were  not  then  regis 
tered  should  be  free.41  It  abolished  the  old  discrimina- 

40  Col.  Rec.,  XII,  99;  Pa.  Packet,  Sept.   16,    1779;  Journals  of  House, 
1776-1781,  pp.  392,  394,  399,  412,  424,  435;  Packet,  Mar.   13,   1779;  Dec. 
25»  i779>  Jan.  i,  1780;  Gazette,  Dec.  29,  1779;  Vaux,  Memoirs  of  Benezet, 
92.     The  distribution  of  the  vote  seems  to  have  had  no  political,  no  re 
ligious,    and    probably    no    economic    significance.       The    measure    was 
popular   in   and  out  of  the  Assembly.     Packet,   Dec.   25,   1779;  Jour,   of 
House,    1776-1781,    p.    435.      An    earlier    bill    had    been    published    in    the 
Packet,  Mar.  4,  1779.     It  is  very  interesting.     The  bill  as  finally  drafted 
became  the   first  act  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the   United   States. 
Accordingly  its  authors  had  to  do  much  original  and  constructive  work. 
In  the  course  of  the  work  their  ideas  underwent  some  change,  and  the 
transition  is  easily  seen  in  comparing  the  first  bill  of   1779  with  the  act 
as  passed  in   1780.     In  some  respects  the  first  is  more  liberal  than  the 
second;  in  other  respects  less  so.     Thus  at  first  it  was  intended  to  make 
the  children  of  slaves  servants  until  twenty-one  only.    {Packet,   Mar.   4, 
I779)«     "A    Citizen"    discussing    this    objected    that    the    master    would 
receive  inadequate  compensation  for  rearing  negro  children,  and  urged 
that  the  age  limit  be  made  twenty-eight  or  even  thirty.     (Packet,  Mar.  13, 
1779).  and  so  pay  for  the  unproductive  years,  which  was  but  just.     The 
law  made  the  age  twenty-eight.     On  the  other  hand  it  was  at  first  pro 
posed  to   continue  the   prohibition   of   intermarriage   and   the   permission 
to  bind  out  idle  free  negroes.    (Packet,  Mar.  4,   1779).     Both  these  pro 
visions  were  omitted  from  the  law. 

41  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  67-73;  2  Sergeant  and  Rawle,  305-309.     Many  of  the 
Friends    thought    that    negroes    ought    not    to    be    held    after    they   were 
twenty-one.    Cf.  MS.  Rec.  Pa.  Soc.  Abol.  SI.,  I,  23.     Very  many  masters 
lost  their  negroes  through  failing  to  register  them,  through  ignorance  of 
the  provision   requiring   registry,    or   through   carelessness   in   complying 
with  it.     Cf.  Rush,  Considerations  upon  the  Present  Test-Law,  (2nd  ed.), 
7    (note) ;   Journals  of  House,   1776-1781,   p.    537,   and   following;    4  Pa. 
Arch.,   Ill,   822.   Cf.   Christopher  Marshall's   Remembrancer,  F,  Oct.   10, 
1780:  .  .  .  "  gott  our  Negro  Recorded."     Cf.  York  Herald,  Apr.  26,  1797- 
The  limit  was  extended  to  Jan.  i,  1783,  in  favor  of  the  citizens  of  Wash- 


ABOLITION  79 

tions,  for  it  provided  that  negroes  whether  slave  or  free 
should  be  tried  and  punished  in  the  same  manner  as 
white  people,  except  that  a  slave  was  not  to  be  admitted 
to  witness  against  a  freeman.42  The  earlier  special  legis 
lation  was  repealed.43 

The  act  of  1780,  which  was  principally  the  work  of 
George  Bryan,44  was  the  final,  decisive  step  in  the  de 
struction  of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania.  The  buying  and 
selling  of  human  beings  as  chattels  had  become  repug 
nant  to  the  best  thought  of  the  state,  and  it  had  partly 
passed  away.  The  practice  still  survived,  however,  in 
many  quarters,  and  strengthened  as  it  was  by  considera 
tions  of  economy  and  convenience,  it  would  probably 
have  gone  on  for  many  years.  Against  this  the  aboli 
tion  law  struck  a  mortal  blow.  From  the  day  of  March 
i,  1780,  the  little  remnant  of  slavery  slowly  withered 
and  passed  away.  In  the  course  of  a  generation,  except 
for  some  scattered  cases,  it  had  vanished  altogether. 

Pennsylvania  was  the  first  state  to  pass  an  abolition 
law.45  In  after  years  this  became  a  matter  of  great 

ington  and  Westmoreland  counties,  previously  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
Virginia.  Stat.  at  L.,  X,  463.  Runaways  from  other  states  were  of 
course  not  made  free  by  this  provision.  Cf,  sect.  VIII  of  act. 

42  The  repeal  of  this  section  was  proposed  the  next  year,  but  failed  by 
three  votes.     Cf.  Journals  of  House,  1776-1781,  p.  605.     It  was  finally  re 
pealed  in    1847. 

43  Sect.  X  of  act. 

44  For  the  view  that  it  was  drafted  by  William  Lewis,  cf.  Pa.  Mag., 
XIV,  14;  Robert  E.  Randall,  Speech  on  the  Laws  of  the  State  relative  to 
Fugitive  Slaves,  6;  Horace  Binney,  Leaders  of  the  Old  Bar  of  Philadel 
phia,  25.     There  can  be  little  doubt,  however,  that  full  credit  should  be 
given  to  Bryan.     "  He  framed  and  executed  the  'act '  "...     Obituary 
notice   in  the  Gazette,    Feb.   2,    1791.    Cf.   inscription  on  his  tomb-stone, 
copy  in  Inscriptions  in  the  Burying  Ground  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  Phila.  (MS.  H.  S.  P.);  Mem.  Hist.  Soc.  Pa.,  I,  408-410;  Konkle, 
Life  and  Times  of  Thomas  Smith,  105. 

48  Vermont  had  forbidden  slavery  by  her  constitution  of  1777.  Poore, 
II,  1859- 


8o  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

pride.  Her  legislators  and  statesmen  frequently  boasted 
of  it.  Not  only  was  the  priority  a  glory  in  itself,  but  the 
manner  in  which  Pennsylvania  conceived  the  law,  and 
the  success  with  which  she  carried  it  out,  furnished  the 
states  that  lay  near  her  a  splendid  example  and  a  strong 
incentive  which  not  a  few  of  them  followed  shortly 
thereafter.*5 

Yet  this  law  was  open  to  some  objections,  and  for 
different  reasons  received  much  criticism.  First,  it  was 
loosely  and  obscurely  drawn  in  some  of  its  sections,  anc 
these  gave  rise  to  litigation.47  In  the  second  place,  il 
was  largely  ineffectual  to  prevent  certain  abuses  whicV 
had  been  foreseen  when  it  was  discussed,  and  which  as 
sumed  alarming  proportions  in  a  few  years.  Some 
Pennsylvanians  openly  kept  up  the  slave-trade  out 
side  of  Pennsylvania,  and  masters  within  the  state 
sold  their  slaves  into  neighboring  states,  whither  the} 
sent  also  their  young  negroes,  who  there  remainec 
slaves  instead  of  acquiring  freedom  at  twenty-eight.4 
They  even  sent  away  for  short  periods  their  female 
slaves  when  pregnant,  so  that  the  children  might  no 
be  born  on  the  free  soil  of  Pennsylvania.  Besides  thi< 

46  Its  significance  in  this  respect  is  remarked  by  Bowden,  History  of  th 
Friends,  II,  220.     Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  provided  for  abolitioi 
in  1784,  New  York  in  1799,  New  Jersey  in  1804.     The  same  wal  accom 
plished  in   Massachusetts  in   1780,  and  in  New  Hampshire  in   1792,  b; 
construction  of  the  constitution.     Among  many  instances  where   Penn 
sylvania  pointed  to  her  great  act  with  pride,  cf.  Acts  of  Assembly,  i8i9-2C 
p.   199;   4  Pa.  Arch.,  VI,  242,  290.     Albert  Gallatin,  writing  to  Charle 
Brown,  Mar.  i,  1838,  says:  "It  is  indeed  a  great  subject  of  pride  .  .  .  tha 
as  one  of  the  United  States  she  was  the  first  to  abolish  slavery  "  .  . 
Writings  (ed.  Adams),  II,  523,  524. 

47  i  Dallas  469;  14  Sergeant  and  Rawle  443-446;  i  Pa.  Arch.,  VIII,  720 

48  Pa.  Mag.,   XV,   372,   373.     The  selling-price  elsewhere  was  greate 
since  it  included  the  price  of  the  posterity. 


ABOLITION  81 

the  kidnapping  of  free  negroes  went  on  unchecked.*9 
These  practices  did  not  escape  unprotested.  The 
Friends  were  indefatigable  in  their  efforts  to  stop  them, 
and  the  government  was  not  disposed  to  allow  the  work 
of  1780  to  be  undone.50  So  in  1788  was  passed  an  act 
to  explain  and  enforce  the  previous  one.  It  provided 
that  the  births  of  the  children  of  slaves  were  to  be  reg 
istered  ;  that  husband  and  wife  were  not  to  be  separated 
more  than  ten  miles  without  their  consent;  that  preg 
nant  females  should  not  be  sent  out  of  the  state  pending 
their  delivery ;  and  it  forbade  the  slave-trade  under  pen 
alty  of  one  thousand  pounds.  Heavy  punishments  were 
provided  for  such  chicanery  as  had  previously  been 
employed.81 

This  legislation  was  enforced  by  the  courts  in  con 
structions  which  favored  freedom  wherever  possible. 
Exact  justice  was  dealt  out,  but  if  the  master  had  neg 
lected  in  the  smallest  degree  to  comply  with  the  precise 
conditions  specified  in  the  laws,  whether  through  care 
lessness,  mistake,  or  unavoidable  circumstance,  the  au 
thorities  generally  showed  themselves  glad  to  declare 
the  slave  free.53  The  Friends  and  abolitionists  were  par 
ticularly  active  in  hunting  up  pretexts  and  instituting 

49  Brissot  de  Warville,  Memoire  sur  les  Noirs  de  I'Amerique  Septen- 
trionale,  19. 

50  Minutes  of  Assembly,  1787-1788,  pp.  104,  134,  135,  137,  159,  164,  177, 
197;  Packet,  Mar.  13,   1788;  Diary  of  Jacob  Hiltzheimer,   144. 

81  Laws   of  Pennsylvania    (Carey   and   Bioren),    III,   268-272.      Despite 
this   many  negroes  continued  to  be   sold  out  of  the  state,   and  in    1795 
the  Pa.  Soc.  Abol.   SI.  was  asking  for  a  more  stringent  law.     Cf.  MS. 
Rec.   of   Soc.,   IV,    191.     Also   MS.    Supreme   Court   Papers,   nos.    3,   4, 
(i795)-     As   late  as    1796   the   author   of  the  Reise  von  Hamburg  nach 
Philadelphia  says:  "  Haufig  kommen,  in  Philadelphia  vorzuglich  .  .  .  grosze 
Transporte  von  Sclaven  von  Africa  voruber,"  p.  24. 

82  i  Dallas  491,  492;  2  Dallas  224-228;  3  Sergeant  and  Rawle  396-402; 
2  Yeates  234,  449;  3  id.  259-261;  4  id.  115,  116;  6  Binney  206-211;  MS. 
Sup.  Ct.  Papers,  I,  i;  MS.  Rec.  Pa.  Soc.  Abol.  SI..  I,  197. 


82  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

law-suits  for  the  purpose  of  setting  at  liberty  the  ne 
groes  of  people  who  believed  they  were  obeying  the 
laws,  but  who  had  neglected  to  comply  with  some  tech 
nical  point.53 

While  these  devotees  of  freedom  were  harassing  the 
enemy  they  were  engaged  in  operations  much  more 
drastic.  The  laws  for  abolition,  respecting  as  they  did 
the  sacredness  of  right  in  property,  had  not  abrogated 
existing  titles  to  slaves.54  This  the  abolitionists  de 
nounced  as  theft,  and  resolved  .to  get  justice  by  cutting 
out  slavery  root  and  branch.55 

First  they  attacked  it  in  the  courts.  The  declaration 
of  rights  in  the  constitution  of  1790  declared  that  all 
men  were  born  equally  free  and  independent,  and  had  an 
inherent  right  to  enjoy  and  defend  life  and  liberty.58  In 
1792  a  committee  of  the  House  refused  the  petition  of 
some  slaveholders  on  the  ground  that  slavery  was  not 
only  unlawful  in  itself,  but  also  repugnant  to  the  con 
stitution.57  This  point  was  seized  upon  by  the  aboli 
tionists,  who  resolved  to  test  it  before  the  law.  Accord 
ingly  they  arranged  the  famous  case  of  Negro  Flora  v. 
Joseph  Graisberry,  and  brought  it  up  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  state  in  1795.  It  was  not  settled  there, 
but  went  up  to  what  was  at  that  time  the  ultimate  judi 
cial  authority  in  Pennsylvania,  the  High  Court  of  Er 
rors  and  Appeals.  Some  seven  years  after  the  question 
had  first  been  brought  to  law  this  august  tribunal  de- 

83  2  Rawle,  204-206;  i  Penrose  and  Watts  93.  Cf.  Min.  of  Assembly, 
1785-1786,  pp.  1 68,  169. 

54  14  Sergeant  and   Rawle  442;   Brissot,  Memoire,  20. 

85  Brissot,  Memoire,  21.  Cf.  the  severe  censure  in  Why  Colored  People 
in  Philadelphia  Are  Excluded  from  the  Street  Cars  (1866),  23. 

M  Art.  IX,  sect.  i. 

87  Journal  of  the  House,  1792-1793,  PP-  39,  55- 


ABOLITION  83 

cided  after  lengthy  and  able  argument  that  negro 
slavery  did  legally  exist  before  the  adoption  of  the  con 
stitution  of  1790,  and  that  it  had  not  been  abolished 
thereby." 

Failing  to  destroy  slavery  in  the  courts  the  aboli 
tionists  strove  to  demolish  it  by  legal  enactment.  For 
this  purpose  they  began  a  campaign  that  lasted  for  two 
generations.  In  1793  the  Friends  petitioned  the  Senate 
for  the  complete  abolition  of  slavery,  and  in  1799  they 
sent  a  memorial  showing  their  deep  concern  at  the  keep 
ing  of  slaves.  In  the  following  year  citizens  of  Philadel 
phia  prayed  for  abolition,  and  a  few  days  later  the  free 
blacks  of  the  city  petitioned  that  their  brethren  in  bond 
age  be  set  free,  suggesting  that  a  tax  be  laid  upon  them 
selves  to  help  compensate  the  masters  dispossessed.  The 
demand  for  freedom  was  supported  in  other  quarters  of 
the  state,  and  undoubtedly  a  strong  feeling  was  aroused. 
The  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery 
began  the  practice,  which  it  kept  up  for  so  many  years, 
of  regularly  memorializing  the  legislature.  Later  on 
some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  state  took  up  the  cause, 
and  once  the  governor  in  his  message  referred  to  the 
galling  yoke  of  slavery  and  its  stain  upon  the  common 
wealth." 


58  MS.  Docket  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  XXVII,  379.  The 
suit  was  on  a  writ  "  de  homine  replegiando."  Cf.  Stroud,  Sketch  of  the 
Laws  Relating  to  Slavery  in  the  Several  States  of  the  United  States  of 
America  <2d  ed.),  227  (note);  MS.  Docket  of  the  High  Court  of  Errors 
and  Appeals,  1780-1808,  p.  126;  Pa.  Gazette,  Feb.  3,  1802;  Report  of 
Pa.  Soc.  Abol.  SI.  in  Minutes  Sixth  Convention  Abol.  Soc.,  Phila.,  1800, 
p.  7.  It  was  the  different  decision  of  an  exactly  similar  question  that 
abolished  slavery  in  Massachusetts.  Cf.  Littleton  v.  Tuttle,  4  Massa 
chusetts  128. 

K  Journal  of  Senate,  1792-1793,  pp.  150,  151;  1798-1799,  p.  149;  J.  of  H., 
1799-1800,  pp.  76,  123,  153,  160,  172,  190;  7.  of  S.,  1799-1800,  p.  223;  7.  of  S., 
1800-1801,  pp.  134,  135;  J.  of  H.,  1802-1803,  p.  218;  7.  of  H.,  1811-1812,  pp. 
24,  216;  4  Pa.  Arch.,  IV,  757,  for  Governor  Snyder's  message. 


84  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  majority  of  the  peo 
ple  in  the  state  believed  that  enough  had  been  done,  and 
desired  to  see  the  little  remaining  slavery  quietly  ex 
tinguished  by  the  operation  of  such  laws  as  were  effect 
ing  the  extinction.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that 
although  many  bills  were  proposed  to  effect  total  and 
immediate  abolition,  some  of  which  had  good  prospects 
of  success,  yet  each  one  was  gradually  pared  of  its  most 
radical  provisions,  and  in  the  end  was  always  found  to 
lack  the  support  requisite  to  make  it  a  law. 

In  1797  the  House  had  a  resolution  offered  and  a  bill 
prepared  for  abolition.  This  measure  dragged  along 
through  the  next  two  sessions,  but  in  1800  so  much  en 
couragement  came  from  the  city  and  counties  that  the 
work  was  carried  on  in  earnest.  The  course  of  this 
bill  illustrates  the  progress  of  others.  At  first  the  pro 
posed  enfranchisement  was  to  be  immediate  and  for 
all;  then  it  was  modified  to  affect  only  negroes  over 
twenty-eight.  In  this  form  it  passed  the  House  by  a 
handsome  majority,  but  in  the  Senate  it  was  postponed 
to  the  next  session.  When  finally  its  time  came  the  com 
mittee  having  it  in  charge  reported  that  as  slavery  was 
not  in  accordance  with  the  constitution  of  1790,  a  law  to 
do  away  with  slavery  was  not  needed.  The  measure  was 
still  mentioned  as  unfinished  business  about  the  time 
that  the  High  Court  decided  that  slavery  was  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  constitution  after  all.90 

The  abolitionists  did  not  lose  heart.  They  tried  again 
in  1803,  and  again  the  following  year.  In  1811  a  little 

<» /.  of  H.,  1796-1797,  pp.  283,  308,  354,  355;  /.  of  H.,  1797-1798.  PP. 
75,  269;  J.  of  H.,  1798-1799,  pp.  20,  354;  /.  of  H.,  1799-1800,  pp.  23,  76, 
93,  123,  153,  160,  162,  172,  176,  190,  236,  303,  304,  306,  309.  3io,  313. 
3i4,  330,  358,  376;  /.  of  S.,  1799-1800,  pp.  144,  223.  235.  The  bill  passed 
the  House  54  to  15.  /.  of  S.,  1800-1801,  p.  175;  /.  of  S.,  1801-1802,  p.  24. 


ABOLITION  85 

was  done  in  the  House,  and  in  1821  the  matter  was  dis 
cussed  in  the  Senate.  In  this  latter  year  a  bill  was  pre 
pared  and  debated,  but  nothing  passed  except  the 
motion  to  postpone  indefinitely.  Indeed  the  movement 
had  now  spent  its  force,  and  was  thereafter  confined  to 
futile  petitions  that  showed  more  earnestness  of  purpose 
than  expectation  of  success.61 

This  is  easily  explicable  when  it  is  understood  how 
rapidly  slavery  had  declined.  The  number  of  slaves  in 
Pennsylvania  had  never  been  large.  By  the  first  Federal 
census  they  were  put  at  less  than  four  thousand ;  but 
within  a  decade  they  had  diminished  by  more  than  half, 
and  ten  years  later  there  were  only  a  few  hundred  scat 
tered  throughout  the  state.62  The  majority  of  these 
slaves  during  the  later  years  were  living  in  the  western 
counties  that  bordered  on  Maryland  and  Virginia, 
where  slavery  had  begun  latest  and  lingered  longest.63 

61  7.  of  H,,  1802-1803,  pp.  361,  362;  1804-1805,  p.  61;  Pa.  Gazette,  Feb.  i, 
1804;  J.  of  H.,  1811-1812,   pp.  58,  67,  216;  /.  of  S.,  1820-1821,  p.  33;  Pliila. 
Gazette,  Mar.  6,  1821;  7.  of  S.,  1820-1821,  pp.  105,  308,  469,  531,  532,  535, 
536.     For  the  provisions  of  such  a  bill — the  abolition  of  slavery  and  of 
servitude    until    twenty-eight — compensation    of    owners — permission    for 
negroes  to  remain  slaves  if  they  so  desired — cf.  House  Report  no.   399 
(1826);  7.   of  H.,  1825-1826,  pp.  370,  375,  396,  497,  498.     Also  7.  of  S., 
1841,  vol.  I,  249,  294. 

62  The  numbers  were  1790,  3737;  1800,  1706;  1810,  795;   1820,  211;   1830, 
67;    1840,  64  (?).     The  U.   S.  Census  Reports  do  not  mention  any  after 
1840,  but  it  is  said  that  James  Clark  of  Donegal  Township,   Lancaster 
County,  held  a  slave  in  1860.     Cf.  W.  J.  McKnight,  Pioneer  Outline  His 
tory  of  Northwestern  Pennsylvania,  311.     It  is  necessary  to  remark  that 
the  U.  S.  Census  reported  386  as  the  number  of  slaves  in  1830.     As  this 
was  in  increase  of  175  over  the  number  reported  in  1820,  it  aroused  con 
sternation    in    Pennsylvania    and   amazement   elsewhere,    so    that    a   com 
mittee   of  the   Senate   was  immediately  appointed  to   investigate.      Their 
account  showed  that  there  had  been  no  increase  but  a  substantial  diminu 
tion  in  numbers;  and  that  the  U.  S.  officers  had  been  grossly  careless,  if 
not  positively  ignorant  in  their  work.     7.  of  S.,  1832-1833,  vol.  I,  141,  148, 
482-487;   Hazard's   Register,   IV,    380;    IX,    270-272,    395;    XI,    158,    159; 
African  Repository  and  Colonial  Journal,  VII,  315. 

68  Cf.  J.  of  S.,  1821-1822,  pp.  214,  215. 


86  THE  NEGRO  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

In  Philadelphia  and  .the  older  counties  it  had  almost 
entirely  disappeared.  So  rapid  was  the  decline  that  as 
early  as  1805  the  Pennsylvania  Abolition  Society  re 
ported  that  in  the  future  it  would  devote  itself  less  to 
seeking  the  liberation  of  negroes  than  to  striving  to  im 
prove  those  already  free.  This  could  only  mean  that 
they  were  finding  very  few  to  liberate.64 

That  the  decreasing  agitation  for  the  entire  abolition 
of  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  was  due  to  the  decline  of 
slavery  and  not  to  any  decrease  in  hostility  to  it,  is  shown 
by  the  character  of  other  legislation  demanded,  and  the 
readiness  with  which  stringent  laws  were  passed.  The 
act  of  1780  permitted  the  resident  of  another  state  to 
bring  his  slave  into  Pennsylvania  and  keep  him  there 
for  six  months.65  A  very  strong  feeling  developed 
against  this.  In  1795  it  was  necessary  for  the  Supreme 
Court  to  declare  that  such  a  right  was  valid.  It  was 
afterwards  decided,  however,  that  if  the  master  con 
tinued  to  take  his  slave  in  and  out  of  Pennsylvania  for 
short  periods,  the  slave  should  be  free.  Again  and 
again  the  legislature  was  asked  to  withdraw  the  priv 
ilege.  It  is  needless  to  recount  the  petitions  that  never 
ceased  to  come,  and  at  times  poured  in  like  a  flood.  At 
last  the  pressure  of  popular  feeling  could  no  longer  be 
held  back,  and  after  the  legislation  of  1847  following 
the  memorable  case  of  Prigg  v.  Pennsylvania,  when  a 
slave  was  brought  by  his  master  within  the  bounds  of 
Pennsylvania,  that  moment  by  state  law  he  was  free.*5 

61  Minutes  Tenth  American  Convention  Abol.  SL,  Phila.,  1805,  p.    13. 

™  Stat.  at  L.,  X,   71. 

m  Respublica  v.  Richards,  2  Dallas  224-228;  Commonwealth  v.  Smyth,  i 
Browne  113,  114;  Laws  of  Assembly,  1847,  p.  208.  This  law  was  affirmed 
by  the  courts  in  1849.  Kauffman  v.  Oliver  10  Pa.  State  Rep.  (Barr), 
517-518.  It  was  at  times  contested  by  the  citizens  of  other  states,  as  in 


Long  before  this  time  the  passage  through  the  state 
of  slaves  bound  with  chains  had  awakened  the  pity  of 
those  who  saw  it"  In  1816  it  was  decided  that  in  cer 
tain  cases  if  a  runaway  slave  gave  birth  to  a  child  in 
Pennsylvania  the  child  was  free.68  Later  the  legislature 
forbade  state  officers  to  give  any  assistance  in  returning 
fugitives ;  and  at  last  lacked  but  little  of  giving  fugitives 
trial  by  jury. 

If  it  be  asked  whether  at  this  time  Pennsylvania  was 
not  rather  decrying  slavery  among  her  neighbors  than 
destroying  it  within  her  own  gates,  since  beyond  denial 
she  still  had  slavery  there,  it  must  be  answered  that  first, 
her  slavery  as  regards  magnitude  was  a  veritable  mote, 
and  secondly,  since  after  1830,  for  example,  there  was 
not  one  slave  in  Pennsylvania  under  fifty  years  old,  it 
was  far  more  to  the  advantage  of  the  negroes  to  remain 
in  servitude  where  the  law  guaranteed  them  protection 
and  good  treatment,  than  to  be  set  free,  when  their  color 
and  their  declining  years  would  have  rendered  their 
well-being  doubtful.  It  is  probable  that  such  slavery  as 
existed  there  in  the  last  years  was  based  rather  on  the 
kindness  of  the  master  and  the  devotion  of  the  slave, 
than  on  the  power  of  the  one  and  the  suffering  of  the 
other.  It  was  a  peaceful  passing  away. 

the  famous  episode  of  J.  II.  Wheeler's  slaves  in  1855.  Cf.  Narrative  of 
Facts  in  the  Case  of  Passmore  Williamson.  In  this  case  the  Federal 
District  Court  held  that  Pa.  had  no  jurisdiction  over  the  right  of  transit. 
In  1860  a  negress  was  brought  from  Va.  to  Pa.  She  was  at  once  told 
that  she  was  free;  but  when  her  master  returned  she  went  back  with  him. 
Phila.  Inquirer,  Aug.  29,  1860. 

67 /.  of  H.,  1821-1822,  pp.  628,  637,  950;  /.  of  S.,  1821-1822,  pp.  325,  330, 
331.  For  a  vivid  description  cf.  Parrish,  Remarks  on  the  Slavery  of  the 
Black  People  (1806),  21. 

68  If  the  mother  had  absconded  before  she  became  pregnant.  Common 
wealth  v.  Holloway  (1816),  2  Sergeant  and  Rawle  305.  Cf.  Niles's 
I'/eekly  Register,  X,  400. 


88  '.T&&  NE&PG  .IN  'PENNSYLVANIA 

And  so  in  connection  with  slavery  Pennsylvania  is 
seen  to  have  been  fortunate.  Seeing  at  an  early  time  the 
pernicious  consequences  of  such  an  institution  she  was 
able,  such  were  the  circumstances  of  her  economic  en 
vironment,  and  such  was  the  character  of  her  people,  to 
check  it  so  effectually  that  it  never  assumed  threatening 
bulk.  Almost  as  quick  to  perceive  the  evil  of  it,  she 
acted,  and  while  others  moralized  and  lamented,  she 
set  her  slaves  free.  Moreover  as  if  to  atone  for  the  sin 
of  slave-keeping  she  granted  her  freedmen  such  priv 
ileges  that  it  seemed  to  her  ardent  idealists  that  the  fu 
ture  could  not  but  promise  well. 

Whether  this  liberality  came  to  be  a  matter  of  regret 
in  after  years,  and  whether  because  of  circumstances 
sure  to  come,  but  as  yet  unforeseen,  it  was  possible  for 
the  experience  of  Pennsylvania  with  her  free  black 
population  to  be  as  happy  as  that  with  her  slaves,  it  will 
be  the  purpose  of  later  chapters  to  enquire. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE. 

Edward  Raymond  Turner  was  born  May  28,  1881,  in 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  he  obtained  his  earlier  edu 
cation.  After  receiving  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts 
at  St.  Johns  College,  Annapolis,  1904,  he  taught  in  the 
Baltimore  .schools.  He  entered  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  in  1907,  and  was  Fellow  in  History  1909- 
1910. 


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